Serious Atlanta traffic tickets need serious atlanta lawyers

Hire within a week of getting your serious Atlanta traffic ticket

Have you been arrested or issued a serious traffic citation that you plan to fight? Start looking for an attorney that same day as your arrest, or within hours of your release. Personally interview more than one, even if you have to pay a consultation fee, and hire one within a week of your arrest.

This is what can happen if you don't hire an Atlanta traffic lawyer in time

I was recently contacted by someone who received a must-appear ticket last January. He went to court himself in early March and announced he was not guilty and wanted a trial. The court mailed him a trial notice in March for court in early May.

On April 26, 2013, he contacted me to see if I could help him out. Unfortunately, the case was set in a very busy metro-Atlanta traffic court with "voicemail hell." That means no live person. He did not want to pay me to go to the court to speak to a live person, and I can't spend my time helping drivers who won't pay me. We exchanged lots of emails, and I was not able to get any valuable information until the Friday before he went on his trip.

You can be arrested for failure to show up to court. even for a traffic ticket.

Bottom line, by the time I was able to pass on valuable information, he went on vacation anyway. The court issued a warrant for his arrest (yes, they can do that!) and when he went to court the first business day after his vacation, the deputies handcuffed him in the courtroom and led him to a holding cell until the end of the court session.

Do you really need a trial for an Atlanta traffic ticket?

How could he have prevented this fiasco? He should have started attorney-shopping the same day he got the ticket. An attorney would have gone to the initial court date and done everything to resolve the case without a trial. At the least, the attorney could have rescheduled the trial date so that there would be no consequence to keeping those vacation plans.

Atlanta DUI crash

I recently consulted on a civil lawsuit involving a driver whose blood test was over the legal limit within three hours of a scary car crash. Unfortunately, he was driving his own teenager and a neighbor’s teen and while no one was seriously injured, the neighbors are very upset to the point where they filed a claim. The driver hired a lawyer who had solicited his business via “jail mail,” those letters sent as Legal Advertisements by referral agencies. He probably had a great chance at winning the criminal DUI charge had he used a DUI defense attorney.

Atlanta DUI leads to civil suit

Fortunately for me and my co-counsel, we represented the neighbor, who had not given permission for this man to drive the teenager from Point A to Point B. The two teens were wearing seat belts or their injuries could have been worse, and my clients the neighbors, were offered a great settlement because the allegations involved drinking and driving.

Atlanta DUI crash and car insurance

I have two points to make:

1. carry as much uninsured motorist or under-insured motorist coverage as you can. That man’s insurance company has already cancelled his coverage, which many companies do with a DUI conviction. During depositions (out of court questioning under oath), he admitted that he continues to drive without insurance. If someone without insurance, or with minimal insurance hits you, your medical bills and car replacement costs may come from your pocket unless your own insurance covers this type of claim.
2. if you or someone you know has suffered a personal or property injury, I know great lawyers who have made sure the insurance company makes a claimant whole.  

Gwinnett County's 2011 Comprehensive Youth Health Survey shows that county youth primarily get alcohol from friends over 21, their own parents who let them drink at home or provide alcohol during social events, and parents of friends. Now that fake IDs are so difficult to make well, this shouldn’t come be surprising.

Just as the penalties in recent years for trying to buy alcohol as a minor have become incredibly strict, so have the penalties for the adults providing alcohol.

Atlanta DUI penalities for the teens caught with alcohol:

• possession of even a can of beer gets a teen arrested,
  • and if convicted, up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
• A teen with any alcohol in his or her system who is involved in an accident gets a DUI arrest
  • and, if convicted of having just 0.02 blood alcohol content faces community service,
    expensive alcohol counseling, fines, probation, and license suspensions.

For the adults responsible for a teen with an Atlanta DUI

Once the police finish arresting the kids at the scene of an accident, they will search for the source of the alcohol and will punish any adults responsible, even adults who had no idea they were involved. I’ve seen cases before where mom and dad were criminally charged for a party their kid hosted at the family home while they were out of town.

On top of everything else, many insurance policies restrict claims from being paid where the homeowner permits underage alcohol consumption.

Parents don’t realize how much has changed since the days when they were in high school, looking for a 6-pack. Back in those days, the penalties didn’t follow a student around for the rest of his life. Now they do. Protect your kids and protect yourself with knowledge. Extensive information is available at the Atlanta DUI blog archive. Search for "college" or "minor".

Atlanta DUI? Get it right the first time

I am a frequent contributor to Avvo, an online legal resource where people can ask legal questions for lawyers to answer. Sometimes the answers are very simple; often the only correct answer is “hire a lawyer now!” I am distressed how often people who claim to have already hired a lawyer ask questions on that site. “If you have already hired a lawyer, you should be asking your question to him or her, not all of us on avvo!” is what I usually tell them.

I think people fish around for other lawyer’s opinions on avvo for several reasons:

1. because the client is afraid to waste her lawyer’s time;
2. because the client doesn’t understand a thing the lawyer has told her; and
3. the worst reason of all: because the client has a niggling feeling that perhaps she’s hired the wrong Atlanta DUI lawyer.

If you read my book How to Hire a Georgia DUI Lawyer before choosing an attorney, you will know how to avoid this time consuming and expensive situation.

Here is my most important advice from How to Hire a Georgia DUI Lawyer:

• interview at least 3 lawyers before choosing one,
• never hire a lawyer based on price, and
• make sure you personally feel comfortable with this lawyer.

You’re going to be spending a lot of time and money on your lawyer. Get it right from the start. Just call my office to request a copy or download from clarktowne.com.