Last Updated on September 12, 2023 by Lawrence Berezin
NYC parking tickets pointers will save you money
Whether you call them NYC parking ticket tips, reliable little pointers, or helpful hints, these gold nuggets will save you money. So, it pays to pay attention. Above all, you’ll need them to beat the Evil Empire at its pastime of issuing about 10M tickets per year.
Ready? Let’s do it!
Fight parking tickets with facts and persuasive proof.
We all endure an emotional reaction to costly NYC parking tickets. Meanwhile, that is perfectly OK. But you must terminate the emotional rant before leaving the place of occurrence.
Therefore, close the windows, lock the door, and scream your bloody head off. But calm down before you leave the location, and take persuasive photos of the essential elements of your defense.
For example, if you get a fire hydrant ticket and you parked more than 15 feet from the hydrant, here’s a roadmap to help you secure your winning proof before you leave the scene.
Larry’s Fire Hydrant Checklist
In the same vein, before you prepare your defense certification, eliminate the following ineffective excuses from your persuasive argument to the judge:
- ” This ticket is unfair.”
- ” The warrior or cop is known to issue many illegal parking tickets.”
- ” I’ve been driving for 56 years, and this is my first parking ticket.”
- ” I overslept.”
- ” I got out of my car to help my 102-year-old mother to walk to the front door.”
- ” I think I parked more than 15 feet from the fire hydrant.”
Use supporting facts to add credibility to your defense
Direct facts include a photo showing a tape measure extended between your car and the fire hydrant. Or a photo showing the number on a building matching the address for the place of occurrence.
However, a supporting fact may be a photo showing the building abutting the fire hydrant to give the judge a feeling for the location.
Similarly, here’s a real-life example where I used direct and supporting facts to add credibility to my client’s defense.
Background Summary
This is a case about a client, Joe Smith, who paid for parking with the ParkNYC App but entered the wrong plate #. Consequently, the payment was assigned to the wrong car in the app. Meanwhile, Joe got an NYC parking ticket for “Failure to Display Receipt.”
This is a common mistake; sadly, judges generally find drivers guilty for the slip of a thumb.
Joe opted to fight the ticket since he paid for parking. Here’s our defense certification.
Can you pick out the “supporting” facts to add credibility that payment was made for the only car parked in NYC when this ticket was issued?
Joe’s Defense Certification
Joe’s Exhibits
Can you pick out the exhibits that added credible proof that supported Joe’s defense? These exhibits were intended to answer any questions the judge may have about the truth of Joe’s defense.
What did Joe do wrong when he fought his fire hydrant parking ticket?
Joe (“fictitious”) parked his car more than 15 feet from a fire hydrant, yet he still received a fire hydrant violation.
Joe diligently prepared his defense letter and created some exhibits. Meanwhile, he fought his parking ticket by mail.
A few months later, Joe received a letter from the Evil Empire that he lost his case.
What went wrong?
Base your defense on an omitted, misdescribed, or illegible required element (“O-M-I”).
As we all know by now, a required element is a bite-size bit of information that a warrior must enter on a parking ticket to establish their prima facie case against us. However, if you can prove one or more required element was “O-M-I, ” you win. Case dismissed.
For example, many of my clients have said that the warrior misdescribed the place of occurrence. Likewise, they claimed they were parked at a different location. However, it is very, very challenging to prove that you parked somewhere else.
So, I checked out the place of occurrence entered on the parking ticket to see if the rule my client was charged with actually regulated the location. For example, we win if my client was accused of no standing, but a no parking rule regulated the place of occurrence. Ergo, my defense would be a misdescribed rule that we can prove (rather than a misdescribed place of occurrence that we can’t confirm).
Here’s one of the winning exhibits
Commentary
Three gold nuggets. Use them wisely
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