Help with letter from Court?

Traveling to VA may be the only way to resolve this problem.

You can try sending them a letter that you never traveled to VA, and you have no knowledge of this matter.

But more than likely, if a signature is on the ticket, the only way to resolve it conclusively, is if in person they witness that the signature is not yours. Then you should point them to the direction of your former roommate.

Worst case scenerio would be that they would hold you responsible for the ticket, then you would have to find, and go after the former roommate for the money. You may have a problem with SOL, since the SOL in PA is only four years; however you may be able to find a way to count the SOL from the date that the obligation caused by your former roommate was discovered, when the court notified you.

Oh, was there any other departments showing up in the letter, like Department of Revenue; etc.

You may try http://www.myvirgina.com/ and select Government, and then State Government Web Site List, to see if you can find an official web site for this branch of gov't (as they are representing themselves) they should be findable somewhere there.

 

Correction:
Either http://www.virgina.gov/ or http://www.myvirgina.org/

I checked under Finance, and Treasury and couldn't find a department of collections, although treasury has a department of risk management.

If you can't find a deparment of collections there, I would send a toned-down validation request as if they were any other CA... By toned down simply state, "I have never traveled in VA, and I have no knowlege of any matter such as the one which your letter is referencing. Please provide me with complete validation of this matter."

Were there any FDCPA required notices (if they are really a state agency they wouldn't be covered under 803(6)(C)) if they are a CA, representing themselves as a state department would be a 807(1) violation.

 

Legally They can't hang this on you.
They have to go after the driver.

 

i agree with lbrown to a certain extent. i believe if it is something like a parking ticket, they automatically cite the owner. if the driver was speeding or whatever, the driver gets cited. you should be able to call and have them give you the details over the phone. i don't see why you would have to travel to VA.

 

This sounds like a CA that the Commonwealth of Virginia has retained to collect, and by calling themselves the "Department of Collections" without being an actual Department of the Government of the Commonwealth of Virginia you MAY have a FDCPA violation here - using false and fictitious names and possibly using correspondance that simulates but is not legal process.

I would check into this "Department of Collections" a bit more. Call them and try to ascertain who they realy are and what their real relationship to legitimate Virginia Government really is. You may be able to actually COLLECT from them.

 

You are correct parking tickets are the responsibly
of the owner.

 

First of all, it may be a collections from the court. In Virginia, each county can operate independently, so the Virginia web site may not help.

It may or may not be a parking ticket. There are many red light enforcement cameras in Fairfax City and Fairfax County. If someone was driving your car and got caught by a red light camera, the owner of the vehicle is responsible. I've heard some horror stories about trying to get out of it.

I would recommend calling the Fairfax County Clerk of Court and starting there. Unfortunately, I don't have the number handy. I can't remember if they have an 800 number or not. My husband had to appear in court there relating to an accident, and he had a number to call for information. But I have no clue where to look for it.

If it is in fact from a red light camera, you may end up paying it. I wouldn't mess around with it, they can get pretty nasty. You might want to call a Virgina attorney and talk to them about it. Many will give a free initial phone consultation, which may be all you need. But first, call the court and see if you can find out what the ticket is.

 

1*ticket although it doesn't show a copy of the ticket
2*I have come to the conclusion that he may have been pulled over for a traffic ticket
and he might have given the officer my info.
3*in my state of PA and it has never come up that I may have any warrant from any state.
4*But more than likely, if a signature is on the ticket, the only way to resolve it conclusively, is if in person they witness that the signature is not yours.
5*Worst case scenerio would be that they would hold you responsible for the ticket, then you would have to find, and go after the former roommate for the money.
><<><> >< >< ><
======================
1*You have a right to see the ticket.
2*Then again he might not have been and he has not a thing to do with this.
3*You need to get a copy of your driving record.
4*If the name on the ticket is not the same name that was on the drivers license something is very amiss here!
5*They have to hold the driver responsible which would be the name that was on the drivers license that was shown to the officer at the time of the offense.

http://www.justsaywow.com/newfun4/mooyear.cfm
..

 

The best way to avoid this kind of problem is don't let others have your car.

 

Hi Freddy,
I currently live in Virginia, and can tell you that Virginia is incredibly aggressive in collecting their debts. They had over a billion dollar shortfall in their budget, so I would take their request seriously.

It is unlikely that the amount if for a speeding ticket. Virginia has had photo ID since I moved down here in 85, and likely longer than that. Any cop would have looked at the ID and realized that it wasn't you, and would have addressed the warrent accordingly. Chances are it is from a parking ticket, and they would have issued it to the owner of the car. Its too bad this didn't happen about a month ago, because they had a period of tax (and other) amnesty, which you probably would have gotten out of the fees.

Do yourself a huge favor and address this right away. Virginia is incredibly nasty about their debts, and they will do exactly what they say.

Good luck

 

I'm not sure a parking ticket would have gotten that high. But the red light cameras ticket the owner, not the operator (since they don't know who is operating the car). In this case, there would exist somewhere a photo of the car with the plate. Of course, maybe fees could add on to a parking ticket to get it to this kind of money, but my bet is still on the red light camera. But sweet21510 is correct that Virginia (and all the counties) are pretty aggressive on collections. So I agree you need to try to get to the bottom of this, the sooner the better. I wouldn't go with the "are they a collector and can I sue them" routine, at least not yet. They may have their hands on your money before that happens.

Call the court first thing Monday morning and talk to them, tell them this is the first you've heard of this. Tell them you need to know what it's about so you can take care of it. When you find out what it is, then you can decide your course of action.

 

While I am by no means a credit repair expert, I have learned from similar endeavors that it is wisest to abide by the K.I.S.S. rule (Keep It Short & Simple) and do not provide any information more than the bare essentials. Extraneous information always has the potential to cloudy the situation, and, of course, be used against you in some way.

My recommendation? Do not mention the roommate until you absolutely must.

 

***I 2Nd.that.
Especially since neither the roommate nor the
o poster may have had anything to do with this.

A question I havent seen addressed is was the time of the lending of the car and the time of the offence the same date and time?

 

If your living in PA, and the judgment was from VA, your in luck. Foriegn jugdments in PA are only valid for 4 years. I'm not sure if thats the case for criminal judgments, but if that turns to be true, I think it would be safe to go tell VA to and this dept of collections or whatever to go piss up a rope.

 

<< ticket although it doesn't show a copy of the ticket
I have come to the conclusion that he may have been pulled over for a traffic ticket
and he might have given the officer my info.
===============
Question is why ain't it on the ticket or where is the ticket?

 

Check with the court for the county this ticket/letter is coming from. They should be able to dig out the file and send or fax you a copy of the ticket.

 

Thanks Brownie,

But Freddy, the OP, (who has exactly one post to his credit) did go on to fix his problem.

In fact he was so impressed with law enforcement and the traffic ticket system he went to law school at Harvard. After graduation he hung his shingle in RI and pursued a long and prosperous career as a traffic ticket atty.

He married his college sweetheart, had 3 kids, a cat, a dog and a hamster.

He finally made it to the federal bench with a life time appointment in hot pursuit of justice against traffic ticket cheaters, and deadbeats who won't pay.


Update: Freddy, at the tender age of 79 finally expired, last night of massive coronary.


He is survived by his lovely Mrs. Freddy, 3 kids and 9 grand children.


He will be missed.


~

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