Longstanding Ticket for Driving Without Insurance | GTAMotorcycle.com

Longstanding Ticket for Driving Without Insurance

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Does anyone know if there is a way to challenge an almost 20 year old insurance charge?

A colleague has a son who was fined years ago for driving without insurance. He was living outside of the country and now is back, living in Alberta, and has discovered he cannot get an Alberta license due to his non-payment of the fine. He was living at home here in Toronto when he got the ticket.

She asked me if I knew anything about it (funny-- once word got out that I bought a bike suddenly I am the 'go to' in the office for all things infraction related!!) and suggested that she try XCopper as they are the only outfit I have ever heard of that might deal with these sorts of issues. Are there others?

If anyone has any recommendations it would be appreciated. (Personally, I thought these fines might just disappear after fifteen or twenty years but I understand now that is not the case.)

Thanks in advance,;)
 
Short answer? Pay it.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
There's an outstanding fine that hasn't been paid?
 
If the fine wasn't paid within the time allocated to do so, the fine goes into arrears and in Ontario A WARRANT IS ISSUED FOR YOUR ARREST.
You get pulled over for a minor offence and off you go to the police station to do the time or pay the fine.
 
legit charge and fine? Pay it if that's all there is to it. What are you going to challenge if already found guilty.
 
Going to have to pay the fine and investigate whether there has been an arrest warrant issued. You cannot challenge it in court, that time has long passed. Judgement would have been issued in absentia. Needs to get that cleared off right away.
 
I recall a conversation with my lawyer and IIRC debts, where there has been a judgement, never expire. Without a judgement they disappear in a certain number of years, maybe seven. It sounds like there was a judgement.
 
I suppose he could take the money down and ask politely if he could reopen the case.

Otherwise, he needs to pay it first.

Does this mean that he needs to answer license suspension question as yes?
Hopefully, he wasn't driving after his insurance was cancelled.
 
No, twenty years later for a summary offence would be out of bounds. The accused would be presumed to have had far more than just adequate opportunity to challenge the charge.
 
Exactly as Rob said. NO GO. He was convicted 20 years ago, (she said he was fined for it, which would seemingly indicate, he either plead guilty or didn't show up and was convicted in absentia).

Given he is now living in Alberta, even if he "could", (which he can't), have it reopened is he planning to attend perhaps several court appearances here in Toronto? I would think, it would be MUCH cheaper to pay the fine.

As for the question for insurance, has your licence been suspended, (normally, insurers only go back 7 - 10 years, depending upon their underwriting guidelines). BUT, in this case his driver's licence IS still suspended. So in addition to the unpaid fine, he will also be on the hook for the reinstatement fee. Then they will, (usually takes 3 - 5 business days), lift the suspension in Ontario. This will mean he can then apply for an Alberta licence. He "may" now be required to go through the graduated licence system as well. Despite him, (Presumably), having a valid licence from some other jurisdiction, given his licence has been suspended for more than 10 years, if he were to apply for an Ontario drivers licence, under those conditions he would start as a G1 driver, with ALL the restrictions attached, Insurance will also treat him as a novice driver.

Should have paid the fine...lol As the VERY old oil commercial used to say... "you can pay me now or you can pay me later"
 
hedo2002 said:
Despite him, (Presumably), having a valid licence from some other jurisdiction, given his licence has been suspended for more than 10 years, if he were to apply for an Ontario drivers licence, under those conditions he would start as a G1 driver, with ALL the restrictions attached, Insurance will also treat him as a novice driver.
Click to expand...

Well that's good to know.
 
statsman said:
If the fine wasn't paid within the time allocated to do so, the fine goes into arrears and in Ontario A WARRANT IS ISSUED FOR YOUR ARREST.
You get pulled over for a minor offence and off you go to the police station to do the time or pay the fine.
Click to expand...

Bullcrap. Stop the fear mongering. This is not New York state where they encarcelate you for unpaid traffic fines.
 
Pegassus said:
Bullcrap. Stop the fear mongering. This is not New York state where they encarcelate you for unpaid traffic fines.
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Failure to show up for a court date and then further (and quite intentionally) ignoring the situation can very much lead to a bench warrant being issued.

But generally they just want to get paid - once that's done the warrant is dropped, if there was one. Only way to find that out would be contact the local constabulary - the warrant would show in the CPIC system no matter where you are in Canada.

They'd be well advised to inquire and find out either way.
 
Pegassus said:
Bullcrap. Stop the fear mongering. This is not New York state where they encarcelate you for unpaid traffic fines.
Click to expand...

Incorrect... I have had more than a few souls, who found themselves in cuffs due to an outstanding bench warrant. Generally, as PP stated, as soon as the fine is paid, the courts consider it a wash and the warrant is canceled. HOWEVER, a JUDGE, NOT a JP from traffic court can, order a hearing meaning the person remains in custody, until the hearing. I have seen it happen once. The accused had to appear before the judge to explain why they hadn't dealt with it. Once that occurred, the fine was paid and the judge added "time served", they were then released.

So Statsman was indeed correct in his post, albeit, a VERY rare occurrence.
 
Content below is not legal advice. See a lawyer or paralegal for legal help.

OP, against all the advice you received here, I'd say, tell your colleague's son to fight the 20 year-old ticket. Ask them to reopen the file and seek disclosure. If the son had a valid excuse, he may be able to extricate himself from paying the fine. Otherwise, paying a 20 year-old ticket plus interest will hurt the wallet.
 
Ummmm....you can't fight a ticket that one was convicted of in abscence 20 years ago. The time for that has loooong passed.

It's basically two options now – pay it as well as all related fees and get license back, or don't.
 
micelli.i said:
Content below is not legal advice. See a lawyer or paralegal for legal help.

OP, against all the advice you received here, I'd say, tell your colleague's son to fight the 20 year-old ticket. Ask them to reopen the file and seek disclosure. If the son had a valid excuse, he may be able to extricate himself from paying the fine. Otherwise, paying a 20 year-old ticket plus interest will hurt the wallet.
Click to expand...

Who has a valid excuse to not deal with something for 20 years... unless he was a POW! Is he?
 
You are missing my point. Here's one example reported by CBC a year ago. In that example, guy paid his ticket 8 years before, but the City had no record of it and he was forced to repay it again. The point is that the City makes mistakes sometimes.

If the person was found guilty in absentia 20 years ago, then there should still be records. If no records exist and the person is an expat (i.e. lived offshore for past 20 years), then the City would not be able to substantiate the judgment.

Put differently, place yourself in that situation. Tomorrow you attempt to renew your license but are unable to due to a judgment against you from 20 years ago. You have no idea what's it about. How do you prove/disprove the claim against you, if there's nothing there left, save for a judgment?
 
You never really know what will happen till you try. In my experience, the Provincial Courts are a joke and they seem to do whatever they want.

When I was appealing a PON Conviction I had to sit through all the cases being brought forward till it was my turn. The JP or judge or whatever was from another court in another town/municipality etc and was getting extremely angry as people were asking to stay the fines so they could begin the appeal process because they "forgot" about the court date or slept in or whatever. Basically almost all of them were no shows and the JP/Judge was getting ******. He was giving the Crown and the other employees there hell for allowing these cases to come forward when their reasons were awful and not qualified for appeals.
After a couple hours of this he got up and left. He was so angry at how the court was being run.

After he left and all of us waiting were like WTF?! the employees told us not worry. The usual Judge/JP is much nicer. He okays everything and should be here shortly.

30mins later the new Judge/JP shows up and first case is brought forward. A Paralegal starts describing how he lost his clients ticket under the seat of his car and didn't notice till the client received the notice of the conviction because no one showed up to trial. The Judge/JP interrupts him and goes "Ok ok. I don't care about all that. What do you want?" The paralegal explains, stay of the fine so they could begin to appeal the conviction and the Judge/Jp goes "Granted! Next!" The court bursts out in laughter at the sheer difference and laughable ease this has all become.
Next person: 'I slept in and I....' JP: "Granted! Next!"
It was a joke! People were getting the chance to appeal convictions because they ****ing slept in! Because they didn't show!

So in summation. Who knows what will happen when you get up there. They do what they want.

TL;DR. Courts are a joke and they do whatever they feel like regardless of what is right or wrong.
 
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