Fighting a NYC Parking Ticket

Last Updated on October 24, 2017 by Lawrence Berezin

Larry’s process for fighting a NYC parking ticket

Spotting a NYC parking ticket sticking out from under your wiper can be a shock to the system. Figuring out whether to fight or pay the evil orange epistle is overwhelming…and rightly so. There are 99 parking violations, a bazillion pages of rules and regulations, and myriad laws passed by the NYC Council and the NY State Legislature to contend with.

Here’s the process I use to fight the good fight against the Evil Empire and win. Hopefully it will bring some order to the chaos.

Larry’s step-by-step process

1. Divide the parking ticket into four sections (in your mind’s eye)
2. Carefully examine each section searching for omitted, misdescribed, and illegible required elements
3. Section #1: This section applies to parking permits. For example, if a person with a handicap parking permit doesn’t properly display the permit and parks in a handicap parking space, a warrior typically enters N/S or N/A. Or, if a member of the driving public gets a parking ticket, and doesn’t have a special permit N/S or N/A will be entered. However, if a parking permit is properly displayed, the warrior is required to accurately enter the permit data
4. Section #2 is the “quick dismissal” section. If the Plate Type, Make, or Body Type is omitted, misdescribed, or illegible, you win…Yea! The month/day/year must be entered for chariots registered in NY, and match the information on the vehicle’s registration.  If the registration expiration date is displayed on an out-of-state plate, the month/year must be entered on the parking ticket. If not, then N/A or N/S is required. The tiny box cannot be left empty
5. Section #3 is a “treasure trove” of parking ticket gold. Lot’s of data that needs to be entered. Lot’s of room for blunders. For example:
   1. The proper reference to the parking rule (found in 4-08) must be entered. If a warrior charges you with no standing, and enters the subpart of 4-08 for no parking, you win!
   2. The days and hours a rule is in effect is required. On this parking ticket, the warrior claims the rule is in effect Sunday and Saturday, all times. If she’s wrong, you win!
   3. A warrior has three options to describe the place of occurrence: (a) Front (b) Opposite (c) Detailed Description. Front and opposite are self-explanatory, and should be checked for accuracy. But, I urge you to take the time to check out the detailed description for accuracy. The proper format for a detailed description is…”N/S of BLANK street, avenue, BLANK feet East of BLANK street, avenue.” This means, North side of BLANK street, avenue, 20 feet East of BLANK street, avenue. If the warrior errs on (1) describing the side of the street, (2) the name of the street, (3) or the direction/distance from the intersecting street, you win!
   4. VC stands for violation code. Surprisingly it’s not a required element.
   5. County and Precinct are not required elements
6. Section #4 bestows gold or destruction. This is the space for a warrior’s comments. An experienced warrior will use this space to strengthen his case, or hand you a get-of-of-jail free card. For example, the below parking ticket charges standing in a no standing-authorized vehicle only zone. The warrior is required to identify the type of vehicle that is  authorized to park in this particular parking area…and did. Another example is for expired registration violations. A warrior is required to enter the registration certificate number and date of registration expiration. If she fails, you win!

 Some Rules and Laws are simply ignored

How frustrating is it to find parking ticket gold, only to have your gold ignored by a judge. For example, we have yet to win a dismissal of a parking ticket because a warrior failed to hand the driver sitting behind the wheel the parking ticket. This law and rule seem to be universally ignored by NYC parking ticket judges. The judge’s opinion  generally states that the evidence was “not persuasive.”

I recently fought a parking ticket for a great friend of New York Parking Ticket, who happened to be a journalist, and always carried a camera with him (smartphone will do). He was sitting behind the wheel of his chariot when a warrior issued a parking ticket and placed it under the wiper (totally ignoring our friend). Check out the photograph below. We raised lack of personal service as a defense, and are waiting for the judge’s decision.  Is this amazing snapshot “unpersuasive?”

Signature is another rule that is ignored. If the warrior kills a fly anywhere near the signature line, and the “signature” is deemed sufficient. There seems to be no such thing as an “illegible” signature.

Finding a substantive defense to defeat the parking violation

If you throughly examine all sections and come up empty-handed, it doesn’t mean that all is lost. Now it’s time to formulate a substantive defense to a parking ticket. For example, if you were dropping off Aunt Tilly in a No Standing zone, a substantive defense is “stopping temporarily to drop off a passenger and depart immediately.” If you were charged with parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, a defense is to prove that you parked more than 15 feet from a fire hydrant. Or, that there was a licensed driver, sitting behind the wheel, with the keys, between sunrise and sunset, ready to move the chariot upon request.

Commentary

Never pay a parking ticket “no questions asked.” It’s bad business. Take the time to look for omitted, misdescribed, or illegible required elements. Try your best to formulate a substantive defense.

The last time I looked, out of approximately only 1.2M of the approximately 10M parking tickets issued were contested. Shame on us!

More than one-half of the 1.2M contested parking tickets were dismissed. Amazing!

When you’re right-FIGHT.