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Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 10:47 PM, Sbbruin said:

In CA, your ex could have shot you in the nuts and still got half.

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I know nothing about the law in California but, in Texas, we have something called a "collaborative divorce" where the process was basically my ex-wife and her lawyer met with me and mine in a handful of sessions, and we all worked together to agree to a settlement that was later presented to a judge and approved with a bang of the gavel without any questions.

While my ex is the one who ultimately filed (I think she thought that'd be advantageous somehow), she was also the one who had cheated and thus instigated the situation. I was prepared and was able to recount an innumerable list of grievances regarding her financial, marital, parental, and other conduct throughout the last few years of our 13 years of marriage. By the end of it, even my ex's lawyer seemed to no longer be willing to put up a fight, so we were able to get to a settlement that was very beneficial for me. For background, the only reason I hadn't divorced her prior to that was our kid is deaf, and I felt like it was worth fighting to stay together for her sake until she graduated from high school.

Had the ex not insisted on the "collaborative divorce" process, which I'd never heard of, at the outset of proceedings, I doubt that it would've gone as well for me. So, once again, she totally fucked up. I'm not saying it was all worth it, but I've got a rockin' kid who's now kicking ass in college, am free from any further child custody payments (other than what I willingly transfer directly into my daughter's bank account), and got to keep all my shit, including the house on which I spent a few years fixing up with my own labor and near zero assistance from the ex and had subsequently developed a strong "emotional attachment," which helped gird the argument for my being able to keep it.

The ex was beaten down so much by this process that she had insisted upon that, at the end, I even got to keep all of the furniture except for our bed mattress (I kept the bed frame), the Xbox, our big TV, and a bunch of kitchen items. All of which were easily replaceable. Also, to prove my goodwill, I even offered to pay half my ex-wife's legal expenses because she ran out of money, which came out to only about $2500.

Most importantly, I also got to share custody of the kid and have been able to keep a strong relationship with her.

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Posted (edited)
  On 5/25/2021 at 9:13 PM, conVINCEd said:

I’m 0-1.  Judge was not amused that I tried to put the system on trial over a speeding ticket.

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One of my greatest triumphs was defeating an ‘Impeding A Roadway’, but this reminds me of the time in Collin County when as a teenager I tried to defend myself from a  ‘Minor In Possession’. I did trip up the officers testimony however.

 

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Edited by JohnnyRage
Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:05 AM, clapclapclap said:

Societal leech

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I’ve never knowingly parked in a handicapped spot in my life. It was parallel parking, the curb wasn’t painted blue, and the sign was on a telephone pole instead of set out on a regular pole. I was dealing with a 2 month old with bowel problems at home and not sleeping and a walking zombie, and didn’t see/notice the sign. It was also on a street completely empty of any cars, and I could have parked anywhere. It was dumb ass luck that I ended up in a handicapped spot.
I went to the judge and said- hey I did it- I didn’t mean to do it (showed him the picture of what the spot looked like with no cars there as I’d snapped a picture once I discovered I had a ticket) it was an accident- is there any way I can do some sort of community service or something like that bc $600 would pretty much wipe me out?
he said- no problem- no need- case dismissed.

Yeah- you nailed it I’m a societal leech.  I was very happy for that judge giving me mercy when I didn’t deserve it. I clearly screwed up, and said as much, but it wasn’t in any way malicious. 
Put another way, in my lifetime I probably have 20 tickets. I’ve gone to court and told my story on 2 of them. 

Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 11:34 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

67 in a 45. It was bullshit that it was 45. It was on the bridge and it’s 45 for about 1/2 a mile. Normally 55. I thought I was doing 10 over which is my standard when conditions are safe but I was 20 over in that stretch of 1/2 a mile. Of course the officer was camped out right where the road switched from 55 to 45 

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Sounds like me, I just got a ticket for 21 over. Everything out here needs to be 10 miles faster anyways.

Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 11:39 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

That’s what I felt like it should be. That certainly wasn’t the way the court functionaries saw it in September nor today. 

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Unless you are insured with some janky insurance company who has a sign out front advertising $39 liability coverage you would be fine.  Newly acquired vehicles are automatically covered.  You have a duty to inform your insurer of the newly acquired vehicle in a timely manner, so they can charge you the proper premium for the new risk.  A week is generally considered timely.  It can get a little ugly on the claims end  if you traded in  a 1995 F150 for a brand new Porsche 911, waited 2 months to swap out the cars with your insurance company, and totalled the 911.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:45 AM, fattyflattie said:

Literally the only important thing out of everything listed. 

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Well, I did say she was a rockin' kid and kicking ass in college but, yeah, I saved the most important for last which was an important stipulation that you omitted when quoting me.

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 1:04 AM, bolverk said:

Well, I did say she was a rockin' kid and kicking ass in college but, yeah, I saved the most important for last which was an important stipulation that you omitted when quoting me.

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Yeah I read it. And know you did. Obviously not learning you anything on it. 

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:14 AM, JohnnyRage said:

One of my greatest triumphs was defeating an ‘Impeding A Roadway’, but this reminds me of the time in Collin County when as a teenager I tried to defend myself from a  ‘Minor In Possession’. I did trip up the officers testimony however.

 

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I was a teenager.  The cop lit me up on the exit ramp of 75 in Dallas and wrote me up for going 47 in a 45.  Like I’m magically supposed to slow my car down from 65 to 45 while I have a cop on my ass, who would’ve hit me if I had slammed on the brakes hard enough to slow down that quickly.  Typical teenager in a sports car getting pulled over.  I called witnesses who testified that I was being very conscious about driving the speed limit, because I had received a speeding ticket an hour earliet that I had yet to inform my parents about.  Which was the absolute truth.   I drew a bad judge who was having none of my teenage shennanigans despite the fact that I was right.

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Posted

One final non-monetary benefit of keeping the house that weighed on me during the proceedings was ensuring that my daughter would feel that she would have a permanent residence and home, which proved to be the case in the few years after the divorce as my ex-wife moved from apartment to apartment before leaving Austin for good.

The kid still considers this place her "real home" a dozen years later.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 1:01 AM, conVINCEd said:

Unless you are insured with some janky insurance company who has a sign out front advertising $39 liability coverage you would be fine.  Newly acquired vehicles are automatically covered.  You have a duty to inform your insurer of the newly acquired vehicle in a timely manner, so they can charge you the proper premium for the new risk.  A week is generally considered timely.  It can get a little ugly on the claims end  if you traded in  a 1995 F150 for a brand new Porsche 911, waited 2 months to swap out the cars with your insurance company, and totalled the 911.

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Fred loya?

Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 9:37 PM, Lhorn said:

Are you still billing you buddy for the time it takes to read these memes?  Rest of the lawyers in here are. 

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Don't forget the consultants that are doing it too.

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Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 9:47 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

So here’s the story and I’d actually like a legal opinion from someone who knows the law..

bought my car on Saturday afternoon. Cruises off the lot around 6:00 pm. Had valid insurance at the time, but not on that car as I hadn’t owned it. Got popped Sunday afternoon for speeding and when I showed her my insurance:

Her-you don’t have this car on here.

Me- I just bought it yesterday-insurance company is closed- going to take care of it Monday when they are open. 
Her- here is your ticket. 
called the clerk after I got the insurance fixed and she refused to dismiss. So we set the case for bench trial. 
went in and told story to DA. He dismissed. Court functionaries bitched and actually told him (after they called my insurance company) he didn’t have his car insured on the day of the ticket (after he’d already said dismissed). 
he was like- but he had insurance then and he still has insurance now, right?

them- yes. Him- then like I said- case dismissed. 
I went to the cage and asked for a copy of the dismissal. A different court functionary then told me “you got lucky no other DA would do that” to which I responded with “I guess it was a good day for me then”. Then she said “the DA isn’t allowed to do that (he dismissed the case for lack of proper citation or something) and the other lady at the cage rolled her eyes and said- he signed it-  Not you- just put it in the computer. 
This entire interaction was very bizarre to me as I didn’t make a scene or act ugly or do anything to draw attention to myself. I sat quietly in my mask, talked to the DA for 2 minutes, told my story and then sat there in the back room for 25 minutes while they did the calling of the insurance company and the like. 
like, the court people seemed pissed that I’d gotten away with something. 
This seems abnormal to me. Also- was what I was doing even illegal?  I imagine nobody has insurance at the moment you drive off the lot. Isn’t there coverage if you are insured for scenarios just like that?  
I was a little surprised by the entire experience. 

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See the source image

Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 11:39 PM, Wulaw Horn said:
That’s what I felt like it should be. That certainly wasn’t the way the court functionaries saw it in September nor today. 

Did they call your insurance company to confirm no coverage. Around here the courts will confirm if you provide information about your provider.
Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 9:52 PM, ztejas said:
My 2nd PI I talked to the appointed lawyer or whatever (not a judge not a DA - can't remember or don't know the terminology) to try and get it to deferred disposition so it would stay off my record. 
She goes "usually my policy is you just get one" (meaning she wasn't going to approve it for deferred disposition) and then I gave some sob story and ended up talking her out of it. 
My 3rd PI I paid someone to get dismissed. Maybe I could have saved $1,000.
Oh - guess which one is the one that still shows up on my record - the 2 that I pleaded to deferred or the one that I got outright dismissed. 

Yea if you were in the same court for more than one of these they were probably messing with you. I’ve had clients who have half a dozen sprinkled throughout the area. We can typically get them resolved through a deferred if not outright dismissed with some sort of alcohol awareness class.

On the showing up part, occasionally the class C courts will clear records so it could be that but the only real way to “clear” the record is by filing an expunction after a dismissal.
Posted
  On 5/25/2021 at 9:56 PM, Brisketexan said:

Depends.  What was on the mexican plate?  This is important.

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Tortilla with meat, cheese, and vegetables.

  On 5/25/2021 at 11:34 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

67 in a 45. It was bullshit that it was 45. It was on the bridge and it’s 45 for about 1/2 a mile. Normally 55. I thought I was doing 10 over which is my standard when conditions are safe but I was 20 over in that stretch of 1/2 a mile. Of course the officer was camped out right where the road switched from 55 to 45 

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How did this play out? Had a similar situation recently but just paid it cause it was my first ticket and could do a class to get it removed. Made me mad though.

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 1:19 AM, conVINCEd said:

I was a teenager.  The cop lit me up on the exit ramp of 75 in Dallas and wrote me up for going 47 in a 45.  Like I’m magically supposed to slow my car down from 65 to 45 while I have a cop on my ass, who would’ve hit me if I had slammed on the brakes hard enough to slow down that quickly.  Typical teenager in a sports car getting pulled over.  I called witnesses who testified that I was being very conscious about driving the speed limit, because I had received a speeding ticket an hour earliet that I had yet to inform my parents about.  Which was the absolute truth.   I drew a bad judge who was having none of my teenage shennanigans despite the fact that I was right.

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You guys are a bunch of hooligans. I thought surly was all that is good and righteous in this world.

Posted

Time for my little story.

When I was a first-year in law school, I attended a party thrown by undergrads at which some fireworks were shot off.  There was also a good bit of underage drinking.  Which provoked a noise complaint and the arrival of the popo.

At some point after their arrival, an officer approached me and told me to put my hands behind my back and cuffed me.  A friend approached and asked what I was being arrested for.  The cop said "MIP," and the friend said, "that can't be right, he's at least 22," which provoked the officer to ask for my iD, which had to be removed from my back pocket.  After seeing my ID, he wrote me a ticket for possession of fireworks.

So, yeah, I have known that cops lie their asses off, even involving privileged white kids, for 30+ years now.

So, the question was, could I be guilty of possession of fireworks by "constructive" possession?  I adjourned to the Tarlton Law Library to consult the Austin City Ordinances and Code.  Which was conspicuously silent about fireworks.  This was before everything was electronically searchable.

So, my defense  altered to "is this even a crime"?

I went to my appointed court date and approached the city attorney/municipal prosecutor, who was not much older than I.  I said "can you show me where this law or ordinance is.  I was at a party where fireworks were shot off, but I did not possess or shoot them."  So he goes back to his office or the witness room or whatever and comes back.

He came back and said "well, I don't have the statute but the cop is here and will say he saw you shooting off fireworks, and the judge will take a 65 fine if you plead nolo."

I detected the muted strains of a smooth buttfucking coming at the hands of the man, so I pled.  I did bring my witness to tell the story of the "well it's MIP, oh, you're 23, it's fireworks."

I pled and paid the 65 bucks.

It was a hassle with the bar examiners, because the City had no record of my arrest or conviction two years later.

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Posted (edited)
  On 5/26/2021 at 10:51 AM, SMUlawUTgrad said:


Did they call your insurance company to confirm no coverage. Around here the courts will confirm if you provide information about your provider.

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In the roadway?  No. I had coverage just not that vehicle that I’d bought the day before. At the court yesterday?  Yes. 

Edited by Wulaw Horn
Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:07 PM, KYHorn said:

Tortilla with meat, cheese, and vegetables.

How did this play out? Had a similar situation recently but just paid it cause it was my first ticket and could do a class to get it removed. Made me mad though.

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Oh I did defensive driving for the speeding. I had no good reason to get out of it. Those speed traps exist generally to ring up revenue with officers sitting at the sign to enforce it. 

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:39 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

I’m the roadway?  No. I had coverage just not that vehicle that I’d bought the day before. At the court yesterday?  Yes. 

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I think technically is is a violation not to have the "proof of insurance" document available for inspection upon being pulled over, even if you do have insurance.

Cops can apparently "run" your insurance in real time to confirm, if you have an expired card.  I get my documents months in advance of the effective date and had a card that was "too early" once.  Didn't get a ticket.  Of course, I'm getting the white dude in a nice car deference.

Also, most insurance covers a newly purchased vehicle for at least 48 hours after purchase, which should be confirmable by the cop as well, but maybe too much trouble.

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:49 PM, TwiceHorn said:

I think technically is is a violation not to have the "proof of insurance" document available for inspection upon being pulled over, even if you do have insurance.

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had a minor fender bender in 2011 cop asks for my insurance and my insurance was for every 6 months, I had just gotten the new insurance form in the mail the day before so I tossed the old form. turned out my insurance renewal kicked in 3 days later.  so the other driver is losing her mind telling the cop that I need to be arrested.   meanwhile I have my smart phone so i pull up my insurance policy on the phone.  shows Im covered.... cop absolutely refused to look at my phone.  told me that didnt count as insurance... I tried to point out that the law says I have to show proof of insurance... cop said smartphone didnt count.

sigh.

I get to go to the courthouse with the letter from my ins company saying I had been a customer for roughly 20 years at that point.  that ticket gets tossed.  just aggravating.

 

I believe Texas law has been updated to allow you to pull up insurance on your smartphone.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 1:07 PM, AUS-97HORN said:

had a minor fender bender in 2011 cop asks for my insurance and my insurance was for every 6 months, I had just gotten the new insurance form in the mail the day before so I tossed the old form. turned out my insurance renewal kicked in 3 days later.  so the other driver is losing her mind telling the cop that I need to be arrested.   meanwhile I have my smart phone so i pull up my insurance policy on the phone.  shows Im covered.... cop absolutely refused to look at my phone.  told me that didnt count as insurance... I tried to point out that the law says I have to show proof of insurance... cop said smartphone didnt count.

sigh.

I get to go to the courthouse with the letter from my ins company saying I had been a customer for roughly 20 years at that point.  that ticket gets tossed.  just aggravating.

 

I believe Texas law has been updated to allow you to pull up insurance on your smartphone.

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Pretty sure it has been.  We don't have any hard copies of insurance in any of our company trucks, only digital copies on our phones.  I've been required to show proof of insurance twice in the past year and it's never been a problem.

Also, poster is correct that Leo's can pull up info on insurance status on their computer, probably faster than we can find it on our phones.

Posted

Had a Hurst cop write my ex a no insurance ticket once. He said the card was phoney because you can't buy insurance a year at a time.

 

Yeah beat that one.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:35 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Time for my little story.

When I was a first-year in law school, I attended a party thrown by undergrads at which some fireworks were shot off.  There was also a good bit of underage drinking.  Which provoked a noise complaint and the arrival of the popo.

At some point after their arrival, an officer approached me and told me to put my hands behind my back and cuffed me.  A friend approached and asked what I was being arrested for.  The cop said "MIP," and the friend said, "that can't be right, he's at least 22," which provoked the officer to ask for my iD, which had to be removed from my back pocket.  After seeing my ID, he wrote me a ticket for possession of fireworks.

So, yeah, I have known that cops lie their asses off, even involving privileged white kids, for 30+ years now.

So, the question was, could I be guilty of possession of fireworks by "constructive" possession?  I adjourned to the Tarlton Law Library to consult the Austin City Ordinances and Code.  Which was conspicuously silent about fireworks.  This was before everything was electronically searchable.

So, my defense  altered to "is this even a crime"?

I went to my appointed court date and approached the city attorney/municipal prosecutor, who was not much older than I.  I said "can you show me where this law or ordinance is.  I was at a party where fireworks were shot off, but I did not possess or shoot them."  So he goes back to his office or the witness room or whatever and comes back.

He came back and said "well, I don't have the statute but the cop is here and will say he saw you shooting off fireworks, and the judge will take a 65 fine if you plead nolo."

I detected the muted strains of a smooth buttfucking coming at the hands of the man, so I pled.  I did bring my witness to tell the story of the "well it's MIP, oh, you're 23, it's fireworks."

I pled and paid the 65 bucks.

It was a hassle with the bar examiners, because the City had no record of my arrest or conviction two years later.

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So let me get this straight. A future lawyer wasn't able to win a case that presumably a 5 year old could win? How much do you charge per hour?

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:49 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Cops can apparently "run" your insurance in real time to confirm, if you have an expired card. 

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They can absolutely do this. I know I've had it happen at least once where I either had an out of date card or scrambled to find it and the cop just told me he'd look it up and be right back. 

For the most part I've had pretty good police interactions though. I'm sure a dick cop would find a way to write you up if you couldn't produce proof of insurance.

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:35 PM, TwiceHorn said:

 

It was a hassle with the bar examiners, because the City had no record of my arrest or conviction two years later.

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I had this happen with an MIP in South Padre, which doesn't surprise me since they're probably funding the police pension with off the books tickets over spring break.  But a city of Austin ticket that you actually went to court for is crazy.

You'd think the Texas bar is used to seeing shit like this.  They acted like it was the end of the world that I reported a crime I couldn't prove I had committed.  

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 1:42 PM, Bevo said:

So let me get this straight. A future lawyer wasn't able to win a case that presumably a 5 year old could win? How much do you charge per hour?

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There is where you are wrong. If he was 5 years old the MIP charges would have stuck. No need for the fireworks secondary charge in that case. 

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Posted

I'm either 3-0 or 5-0 as a self made lawyer.  I've won both my small claims court cases, in one of which my opponent was an actual real (not very good) attorney.  I was t-boned by a cop car once and when I woke up in the hospital I found that they had left me 3 tickets.  I took them to court and defeated them on all three charges so I'm not sure if that counts as one victory or three.  The city was represented by an assistant to the assistant to the assistant city attorney on that one.

Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 12:49 PM, TwiceHorn said:

I think technically is is a violation not to have the "proof of insurance" document available for inspection upon being pulled over, even if you do have insurance.

Cops can apparently "run" your insurance in real time to confirm, if you have an expired card.  I get my documents months in advance of the effective date and had a card that was "too early" once.  Didn't get a ticket.  Of course, I'm getting the white dude in a nice car deference.

Also, most insurance covers a newly purchased vehicle for at least 48 hours after purchase, which should be confirmable by the cop as well, but maybe too much trouble.

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It is a violation, but the citation MUST be dismissed without requiring any fees etc. if proof of insurance that was valid at the time of citation is provided. They should have called Wulaw's insurance, asked "would you be covering him if he just bought a car the day before", they say "yes" and so done deal.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 6:12 PM, Jhawk said:

Isn’t it against the rules to have a lawyer in small claims court? Sounds like you’re about to get a bar complaint. 

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No, but a corporation or other juridical entity cannot represent itself in small claims or JP court.  It has to have a lawyer.

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Posted
  On 5/26/2021 at 5:31 PM, TXSooner518 said:

It is a violation, but the citation MUST be dismissed without requiring any fees etc. if proof of insurance that was valid at the time of citation is provided. They should have called Wulaw's insurance, asked "would you be covering him if he just bought a car the day before", they say "yes" and so done deal.

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Yeah- but it was Sunday night so I just figured they didn't work. I always call my agent and say- hey I bought a car- make this work for me. Perhaps there's some other way to do it- but that's what I pay them for- me not having to figure out the system- me only having someone to tell when I have an insurable event and them modifying my coverage accordingly. 

Posted

Oh, and further proof that I'm an idiot- I was sitting outside with the 100 people in the great unwashed and I'd been there for like 2 hours.  I went up to the bailiff and I was like- you- is the judge ever coming out- it said I was supposed to be here at 9- and he was like- not until all this gets worked out- that's what the attorneys in the other room are doing with the DA- anyone not represented by an attorney goes last. 

Me- I'm an attorney- but it's my own case- does that count?

Him- why the hell have you been waiting 2 hours- yes- let me show you back.  

He was nice but didn't understand why I was waiting with the unwashed. My answer- as it is to most things- is b/c I'm an idiot.  

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Posted

I am about 7-0.  Almost all traffic shit for families.  Best was my niece got a DWI.  Cop pulled her over after leaving Whataburger at 2am (shocker).  Had her dead to rights in a video, forget what she below, went to jail yada yada.  She was 17 at the time. I was still in law school but trying to help.  I go talk to the DA, start idle chit chat, find out he went to UT undergrad and my same law school.  I took my position that I am not going to argue she did or did not do this but she wants to go to college, doesn't want this on her record, this is her first offense and she would learn much more by getting a shit ton of community service.  He agreed and dropped to "obstruction of highway or passageway" and I thought I was a badass (learned later this is synonymous for a DWI pretty much and probably should have pleaded for a class A and think he would have agreed). So, get done with that, DA turns to my niece and asks "so, where do you want to go to school".  Her response: "A&M".  I think I actually slapped my forehead.  /CSB

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