Hi All,


I stumbled across this forum and it looks like a great forum with friendly members and good advice. Thanks in advance to the lawyers and experts that provide opinions and insight.

I have a bit of a sticky traffic situation that I'd like to understand my options on.

Scenario is:
I received a traffic ticket in north California for speeding and for no insurance. The speeding was 100 in a 65 (this was a on highly tuned sports car that is capable of reaching 200 MPH so the relative speed was very maintainable for the car.... pleas spare me the moral lessons :cool: )

My lawyer went to court & he said that it was virtually impossible to win but that he'd do his best.

The outcome was:
Insurance ticket dropped b/c I demonstrated I had insurance ($20 fee)
The speeding stayed and b/c it's over 100 it's considered a misdemeanor.
The judge issued a $500+ fine AND my license from Washington to send down to California to be suspended for a number of days (!?)

I am pondering not paying for this, and not coming down to California or being super careful when I do for a long time.....

My question is - what WILL be the consequences for me *outside* of California if I do this.

Specifically,
How long is the outstanding warrant 'valid' for? (forever? do the consequences change over time? eg, 5, 7 10 years..)
Will traffic law enforcement in Seattle see the outstanding warrant? Will it be on my traffic record in Washington that it was suspended? (I would ask that the license be sent back to my address, but my lawyer said they could send it to the DMV here in WA)
Can I be extradited for some reason?
Can the financial recovery company damage my credit record and come after assets not in California and how much time do they have in California (or out)?
*This is really important b/c I have a number of assets in WA, and I deffinetly can not allow my credit report to be damaged.
Other important info I should know..

I would really appreciate your help in this. I have to make a decision on which way I will go on this in a very short time.

The warrant will always be valid. So if you get stopped at a road block or have any other causal contact with a law enforcment officer in California, I'd expect to be arrested.

I would anticpate that Washington will honor California's suspension. So you could have additional charges filed up there.

Officer's from any state will be able to look up the outstanding warrant, but it might not come up automatically. Having an outstanding FTA warrant may make the difference between a ticket and an arrest for traffic charges. It shows that you won't honor the promise to appear that you make when you sign a ticket.

I suppose it's possible to be extradited, but I doubt that anyone would for a misdemeanaor.

I don't know about civil recovery. I don't think we do that in Georgia. We just suspened licenses and issue warrants for failure to appear.

Thanks a lot Billy!

I would anticpate that Washington will honor California's suspension. So you could have additional charges filed up there

I don't know about civil recovery. I don't think we do that in Georgia. We just suspened licenes and issue warrants for failure to appear.

Is there any way to know for sure on those two? I will call Washington DOL and some Washington contacts but it's hard to get a definitive answer up here from my sources...

Thanks again!

Go to http://boards.lp.findlaw.com/, and post your question about Washington honoring suspensions from California and civil recovery of fines. Carl is a California officer who frequents that board, and he knows more about how the states on the left coast interact.

According to the Georgia Department of Motor Vehilces, all the west coast states are not members of the Interstate compact, and drivers from those states whoare stopped for traffic violations are to be arrested rather than being issued tickets because the non-comact states won't honor our suspension. Carl says that they are, but we go by what the DPS says.

Billy Mack, the only state I know that does not honor the compact is California. If a CA resident does not pay an out of state ticket, CA will not suspend their license. They do put out of state tickets on the driving record and assess points.

To the OP, it is my understanding Washington will suspend your license and you will not get it back until you clear the suspension in CA. The above only works one way but you can call the WA DMV and check. If it is different please post back.

Some CA courts do employ collection agencies so this could go on your credit report. You did the crime, now do the time. It will be much easier on you in the long run.