Are Traffic Tickets Really Fixed?

By MICHAEL SQUIRES
REVIEW-JOURNAL

For anyone caught speeding, running a red light or committing any number of roadway sins, it's an offer of absolution: no points on your driver's license, no rise in insurance rates, and no time in traffic school or court -- guaranteed.

The claims, proffered in advertisements on television, billboards and flyers, sound too good to be true to some.

"I wonder about it myself sometimes," said Las Vegas Justice Court Deputy Clerk Martin Lotz, who knows the realities of a traffic citation. "I can't speak for other courts, but in our court they can't guarantee that."

But, according to several people involved at nomotix.com, a large Missouri-based practice, the firms that offer this specialized legal assistance deliver on their promise most of the time.

For between $100 and $149 for most citations, the companies contract with an attorney to negotiate reducing moving violations -- which carry points and thus the threat of escalating insurance rates -- to nonmoving violations, which yield no points. The citations essentially become parking tickets, albeit expensive ones the customer must pay.

Chris Ceccarelli, manager of Ticket Resolution Services, said since his business opened its doors in July he has had only a handful of cases where attorneys he hired failed to provide the guaranteed result. About half of those were because of clerical errors, and the other half were in Henderson. Go figure.

"They're very successful," Ceccarelli said.

Darryl Dorfman, owner of Ticket Fixers, declined to give specific numbers but said he is successful in "most cases."

Though their advertisements and claims of success make it seem the industry works some dark art or has a brother-in-law in every traffic court in the county, court officials say that's not the case.

"They do what anybody can do, only they put it on a billboard," said Las Vegas Municipal Court administrator Jim Carmany. "There's nothing that's different for this group of attorneys than for any attorney or the public."

For example, traffic school isn't necessary for motorists to avoid getting points on their license for their first moving violation, Carmany said.

Traffic school does, however, lower the overall cost of getting cited. Including the cost of school and the reduced fine, it's about $80 cheaper in Las Vegas Municipal Court.

As long as a motorist isn't cited for identical violations in the same 12-month period, traffic school and driver's license points are avoidable, Carmany said.

Dorfman admits, "There really is no trick to it."

He said some customers just want to avoid the hassle of taking time away from work to mingle with the unwashed masses at traffic court.

Others, fearing an increase in insurance rates, want to be sure their record stays clean.

Dorfman claims courts benefit as well because citations are handled more efficiently and more lucratively.

Several courts allow lawyers to carry out negotiations and submit pleas by fax, what they call "fax adjudication" or "fax arraignment."

Some courts offer special "negotiated sessions" where a judge, prosecutor and attorneys representing dozens of motorists with citations can handle the cases in bulk.

"There does tend to be a frequent recurring result in many of the traffic charges," North Las Vegas' city attorney Sean McGowan said of the outcome during these monthly negotiated sessions.

But that's not because of any lawyer-to-lawyer professional courtesy or good-old-boy dealings, he said. It's a factor of the number of trials the courts can handle.

"We try to strike the best deal we can in light of our court resources to hold trials," he said. "Do people get better deals when they have a lawyer? Perhaps, because that person is one step closer to being able to take it to trial."

So it is with other courts. Las Vegas Justice and Las Vegas Municipal courts handle between 11,000 and 15,000 traffic citations in a typical month.

"We'd bog down pretty quickly if more went to trial," Carmany said.

It puts the attorney in a favorable position if the issue being fought over is points.

Dorfman believes the courts have shown their willingness to keep points off motorists' licenses as long as they collect fines. In fact, courts report only moving violation convictions to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"I think the courts, in my opinion, view it as pretty much the same thing as long as they're going to get paid."