Adventures with the law...

I don't usually do posts about myself but figured some of the adventures I've had the last few months probably need to be documented for posterity sake!

Back in December, I was in a small fender-bender accident. I felt like it was the other driver that was at fault even though I hit her from behind because she stopped suddenly in the middle of a traffic lane on a major road. I tried to swerve but was too close and clipped the back end of her car. All of the damage was on my car of course. We had the cops come out to the scene to fill out an accident report and I discovered that I was lucky to have gotten away without a ticket for rear-ending her. Of course, I had not put my current proof of insurance in my car so got a citation for no insurance.


A few weeks later, I had just got my car back from being fixed (literally the day before) and was on my way to get Addie from school one afternoon when I was rear-ended by another car! Luckily, I had all documentation necessary and was not the one at fault this time! I just couldn't believe that this had happened twice within a matter of a month and so soon after getting the front end of my car all fixed.

Once that was all taken care of, I stopped by the courthouse and took in my proof of insurance that they told me they needed to see. Once there, the clerk said she would also need a letter from my insurance company and then everything would be closed. I talked to the insurance agent, sent him all the info and they were going to fax over a letter.

The following week was a crazy week- Clay was sick and working from home the entire week, the kids weren't feeling great and then it was his birthday and MLK day weekend. I completely forgot to follow up with the insurance agency and the court and didn't realize this until after my court date had passed.

As soon as I remembered (almost a week later), I immediately called the court to make sure it had all been taken care of, only to discover that they had not received the letter, I had failed to appear in court and a warrant had been issued for my arrest! My heart was pounding. After a few phone calls, we discovered the letter had been overlooked and never faxed and I made a new appt. with the court for the following week. The clerk had made it seem like it wouldn't be a big deal, would only take about 10 min. and everything would be fine.

While waiting for the new court date to come, I received another letter from the Drivers License Division stating that due to my failure to appear, if I didn't clear things up and fax over the closed paperwork by mid-February, my license would be suspended!!! It felt like things were never ending!

On Feb. 2nd, I went to court and appeared before the judge. As I got up to the podium, the judge looked at my case and told me that I was probably going to want to talk to the Prosecutor about this. Um, ok. I walked back to a room with the prosecutor who then proceeded to "shake me down" and implied that I had missed my court date on purpose and that I was being flippant about the situation! Seriously?!!! I could not believe what was happening. It was an honest mistake! He mentioned something about a Class B Misdemeanor and it was quite a scary experience. After pleading my case to the prosecutor, he agreed to write off the no insurance citation and that if I plead guilty for FTA (failure to appear), they would close the case at a reduced fine for court costs.

After being at the courthouse for a few hours, I was finally cleared to go, paid my $75 in fines, and received the "closed" paperwork needed for the drivers license division. Faxed the paperwork to them and talked to them a few days later and was informed that it was taken care of.

Finally. Everything is closed- there should be no more problems, right? Wrong.

This week, I received a letter from the State of Utah saying that they had taken $600 out of my state tax return to send to the court as "bail" to guarantee I show up in court. Ridiculous since the date of this letter was Feb. 23rd and I showed up in court on Feb. 2nd!!! I called the court immediately and they indicated that the case was indeed closed and that once they receive the money, they would be forwarding it back to me. So, now I've got to keep following up with the court to make sure I get my tax money back!!!!

I'm really hoping that once I get my money back, that really will be the end of this!!!

Moral of the story: Make sure you keep your current insurance cards in the car, but most of all make sure you SHOW UP for any court dates!!!!!!