6-month Old Ticket on a Car from 7 years ago
In Randomosity | 1 comment | permalink
So today I got a nice form letter in the mail from some law firm about a parking ticket from March 15, 2008. Several problems with this: 1) This is the first I’ve heard of it. 2) I’ve never parked at “1100 Allen”, and 3) The main problem is that the license plate on the ticket notice comes back to a car I haven’t owned in 7 years. Yep, you read that correctly — 7 years. And no, I didn’t remember that — we got a friend from back home to run the plate, since the ticket notice offered no other information other than the plate number.
So I called the law firm, and supposedly I have to provide proof that I no longer own that vehicle. Not sure how I’m supposed to do that — it was 7 years ago. Gonna check with the dealer back in LA that I traded the car with and see if they have anything, then I guess I’ll have to go down to the Parking Adjudication Office in downtown Houston and plead my case.
An awful lot of work for something that is ridiculous.
UPDATE: I took the info in and they got it all taken care of, I suppose. Ended up costing me $3 to park at the courthouse and half an hour to get it done. Not too bad, but still bizarre.
Josh,
Not sure why a “law firm” would be sending you a letter, unless the parking violation was on private property. Even if it was, you do not have to respond, with some caveats. Being a law firm, they must be aware of due process but also being a law firm they don’t care. You do not have to “prove” that you don’t own the vehicle and do not have to respond unless there is a valid court order. Which comes to the caveats…
If you don’t deal with the law firm, they could, and probable easily depending on your state, send you to collections. Now that you have responded to them, it is much easier for them to tie ownership for the debt to an individual.
The other caveat is who has more money and time to pour into the issue. I live in Arizona where it is easy to send someone to collections but we also have laws to protect against unsubstantiated lawsuits whereas we could end up suing the accuser. But again, that takes money and time.
Best suggestion, don’t be confrontational or adversarial with the law firm and work with them in good faith to prove that you don’t own the vehicle. Provide a bill of saie, see if the MVD, where the vehicle is registered, will provide you with docuementation as to who owns the vehicle. That can point them in another direction…away from you. Hope this helps. By the way, I am not an attorney and am not providing any legal advice. (Just a little disclaimer) Good luck.
Bj