A $6500 2 Year Old Offence

My apologies if something similar has been posted in the past.

Yesterday I received a $6500+ conviction notice for failure to display a valid sticker on my license plate and driving without insurance. The offense was in November 2009 and I was completely oblivious to the charge and the multiple court dates that occurred in my absence. I was apparently served the date on the original ticket and wasn't notified again until the conviction 5 days ago. The charge was deferred for almost 2 years, I assume hoping that I would eventually appear.

When I was originally ticketed I mistakenly believed that the officer was charging me the relatively small fine of not having the proper insurance slip, as I was fully insured and have been for the last 20 years. The officer was very pleasant and brief in his explanation when he handed me the tickets. He mentioned just bringing the proof of insurance by and I (again mistakenly) assumed that he meant the station in order to get the insurance slip ticket dropped. He in no way mentioned the court date and I clearly didn't appreciate the ticket that he was handing me as I likely would have ripped the car apart to find the insurance slip. He then sent me on my way which makes no sense since he'd just charged me with failure to have insurance. I was driving my soon to be ex wife's SUV and I returned the car to her a few days later with the tickets still inside and never saw them again. I've had incidental tickets (5 over, parking, etc.) since and it just never occurred to me that I hadn't seen anything in the mail regarding a conviction on what I expected to be a small fine.

I've been to the court house, got an extension and tomorrow I'm going to file for disclosure and the intent to file an appeal. I've been walked through the process, but my primary concern is weather or not I truly have some sort of recourse. I can typically handle this by myself, but the amount is so high I'm also wondering if I should hire a paralegal.

I was honestly floored when I realized the situation; it was a complete misunderstanding on my part and I was fully insured at the time. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Chris

If you did have insurance, it should be a relatively easy charge to beat. Youll need to contact your provider and request documentation showing that both you and your vehicle were insured on the date of the offence. The Crown would likely withdraw the charge if theyre satisfied with the documentation. As for driving your vehicle with no validation sticker, not sure if theres much you can do over that one. The fine for that one should only be $110 though, so a lot more affordable then the no insurance.

What you'll need to do is go to the courthouse to re-open the case. You'll need to explain why you did not appear. Then, when you get a new trial date, you should do what Stanton says and that should take care of the "drive without insurance" part of it.

Given the severity of the fine and the various abnormal procedural issues you described, I would suggesting consulting with a paralegal or lawyer.