Road Law – October 2025
Let’s discuss a current case that has been a nightmare from not only our perspective but also the client’s.
While we always try to trust that the “system” is going to work as it should, it increasingly does not. There really is no excuse as to why these problems continue to come up from time to time and why some administrative changes have not been put in place to make sure bad things don’t happen when they shouldn’t.
Q: I received a 5 mph speeding ticket in Wyoming, and I wasn’t speeding at all. I don’t go back to Wyoming on a regular basis, and I want to know if Road Law can fight this ticket for me so I don’t have to go to court?
A: Yes, we can certainly represent you and attempt to keep the violations off your motor vehicle record. Once we are retained, we will file a notice of appearance, a plea of not guilty and a request for your case to be set for a hearing with the court clerk. Once we have a date assigned by the court for the hearing, we will let you know and proceed to resolve your case.
Q: I hired you to represent me on my traffic case and I received a bench warrant notice from the court in the mail because no one appeared on my initial court date. I can’t go back on the road with an active warrant, and I am missing loads! What are you going to do to fix this NOW?
A: This is a problem that we are seeing with more frequency, and it stems from mismanagement at many court clerk’s offices. Our office filed all of the appropriate paperwork and a hearing request with the clerk’s office well in advance of your initial response date and have confirmation of the same. After waiting on hold for two hours to speak with a live person, we discovered that the court does in fact have all of our paperwork. But because that office is very “understaffed,” it hadn’t yet been entered into the system. So on the initial response date, you were marked as a failure to appear and issued a bench warrant.
Q: That’s interesting, but I need to get back to work. How long will it take to fix this?
A: In your case, we were lucky to get a semi-competent clerk to help us out. With a little coaxing, she added us to her already busy schedule, entered our information into the case file and was also kind enough to generate a cancellation notice of the bench warrant. The cancellation was transmitted to law enforcement, so you shouldn’t have any issues when you get on the road. We also emailed a copy of the cancellation notice to you so you have it for your records.
Q: Thank you for resolving this as fast as you did. But why did the problem occur in the first place?
A: That is a great question! There are a variety of ways that cases get set for hearings – including mailing, emailing, faxing, personal appearance and electronic filing.
As you can imagine, there are also numerous causes for delays in processing. Even if your paperwork is sitting on someone’s desk prior to a deadline, this doesn’t make any difference if that person has not been able to enter your request into the system. Normally, this results in a courtesy letter or a threat of something bad happening if you don’t contact the court. Unfortunately, in your case, you didn’t get any courtesy. LL
We invite you to send any questions or comments regarding transportation law to: Road Law, 3441 W. Memorial Road, Suite 4, Oklahoma City, OK 73134; to contact us through our website at www.RoadLaw.net; or to call us at 405-242-2030. We look forward to hearing from you.