Title: June 20, 2007
Q. I just found out that I lost my driver’s license after I failed to show up in Court for a traffic citation I received for failing to wear my seatbelt. I have to drive my kids to school and to go to work everyday. I don’t have a chauffeur to drive me around. It is OK if I still drive?
A. Unless you can’t afford to be treated like Paris Hilton, and go to jail for 35 days (or however long she was ordered to serve in jail), that is what will happen to you if you keep driving without a driver’s license. You need to take care of the traffic citation first, pay the fine and re-instate your driver’s license. The only way you can re-instate your driver’s license is if you go to Court at 8:00 AM (whichever Courthouse you were scheduled to appear in) tell the clerk at the desk that you want to take care of the old traffic citation. You will have to plead guilty, not guilty or no contest. If you plead not guilty and want a trial, you will have to post bail before you can get a trial date, because you already failed to appear once. So the Court will not trust you again and will require posting bail. When you show up at your trial, you will get your money back if you are found not guilty. If you are found guilty, you have already posted bail, which is usually the amount of the fine. If you pled no contest at the arraignment, you will be given a fine which you will have to pay. At that point, you can request that the DMV reinstate your driver’s license.
Q. I went on a trip to Europe two months ago. The airline I traveled with lost my luggage. I found myself in Madrid without a single item of clothing or shoes, or my toothbrush for that matter. I made a complaint to the airline company, but to this day, I have yet to receive my suitcase. I had some really nice clothes in my bag and jewelry that was worth quite a bit of money. What can I do?
A. Make sure that you document the items contained in your suitcase, as well as their approximate value. Find out the name of the President of the airline company, his/her address and write a certified letter of complaint to the president. I find that if writing to a lowly employee of the company does not work, I go to the head of the company. Such action always brings swift results. Try that and see if it works. I hope you still have your ticket. Explanations on how to make a claim for lost luggage should be printed on the back of the ticket. You can also go on the airline company’s website for additional information.
Maxine de Villefranche is an attorney and civil general practitioner with 14 years of experience. She practices law from her Tehachapi office as well as her Lancaster satellite office. She will answer legal questions posed to her by the readers to the best of her abilities. Email your questions to maxinedev@msn.com or fax to (661)825-8880
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