Unable to make court date

JonJoeDali

Anyone know what the procedure is if one can't make a court date?

I'm due in next week on a minor road traffic offence (failure to produce certificate of insurance). I have the insurance cert, but I can't make the date due to me currently being in hospital.

Can I post in a letter from my doctor along with the cert of insurance? Who should I address the letter to?

Many thanks in advance,

MagicSean

Produce your certain at your local station. And contact the Garda named on the summons and inform him.

Mary Hairy

The sensible thing to do is hire a solicitor. There is provision in the District Court rules for a relative to attend in Court in place of a person who is too sick to attend. Get in touch with the guard and make sure he sees the cert before the court sits. Better again if this is done at least a few days in advance. Even if the guard says he will strike the matter out, make sure to have someone in court on the day. Make absolutely sure you find out what happened in court as soon as possible but within 14 days at the most extreme. Slip ups happen and you could find yourself banned and out of time for an appeal if you are not very careful.

coylemj

If the only offence alleged is failing to produce the cert. and the Gardai are not summonsing you for having no insurance then all that can happen is that you'll be fined. Send a letter to the District Court Clerk (and cc: the Garda) explaining that you cannot make the date but plead guilty and explain why you didn't produce the cert. within 10 days. Chances are that you'll get the Probation Act if the judge is in a good mood. It's very rare for Gardai to summons people only for failing to produce.

Hiring a solicitor would be completely OTT and you cannot be banned for failing to produce. There is no point in now going to the station to produce, once the summons is issued it's too late for that as the Garda can't withdraw the summons.

If you are being summonsed for not having insurance, that is a totally different matter, please confirm that you are only being summonsed for failing to produce and that the Garda is at least now aware that you did have insurance on the day.

Mary Hairy

coylemj wrote: »

If the only offence alleged is failing to produce the cert. and the Gardai are not summonsing you for having no insurance then all that can happen is that you'll be fined. Send a letter to the District Court Clerk (and cc: the Garda) explaining that you cannot make the date but plead guilty and explain why you didn't produce the cert. within 10 days. Chances are that you'll get the Probation Act if the judge is in a good mood. It's very rare for Gardai to summons people only for failing to produce.

Hiring a solicitor would be completely OTT and you cannot be banned for failing to produce. There is no point in now going to the station to produce, once the summons is issued it's too late for that as the Garda can't withdraw the summons.

If you are being summonsed for not having insurance, that is a totally different matter, please confirm that you are only being summonsed for failing to produce and that the Garda is at least now aware that you did have insurance on the day.

Most likely there are two charges. One of having no insurance and a second of failing to produce. There is a presumption of no insurance when there is a failure to produce. A letter written to the clerk is not evidence and does not cure a failure to appear.

It is always better to go to the garda station. Most guards will strike the matter out if they are approached politely beforehand. It is a pain for guards to have to check insurance on the day. Some judges take a poor view of no producing documents in advance of the hearing.

coylemj

Mary Hairy wrote: »

Most likely there are two charges. One of having no insurance and a second of failing to produce. There is a presumption of no insurance when there is a failure to produce. A letter written to the clerk is not evidence and does not cure a failure to appear.

I agree with your first point but the OP specifically said that the office was 'failing to produce'. If the offence is relatively minor, you want to plead guilty and cannot appear, a letter to the clerk is perfectly acceptable, especially if the potential fine is less than what it would cost to instruct a solicitor, judges live in the real world as well as the rest of us.

Mary Hairy wrote: »

It is always better to go to the garda station. Most guards will strike the matter out if they are approached politely beforehand. It is a pain for guards to have to check insurance on the day. Some judges take a poor view of no producing documents in advance of the hearing.

You are completely wrong here, once a summons has been issued there is no point in going to the station and it is not a pain for Gardai to check insurance certs. on the day, it happens all the time. The Garda has his notebook and a copy of the summons in his hand, how could it be a pain to verify that the cert. covers the date and reg. no. of the car that was being driven on the day?

A Garda cannot 'strike the matter out' once the summons has been issued so the court session will go ahead regardless of what cert you produce and to whom. If you go into a Garda station with an insurance cert. and tell them you've been summonsed, in 99% of the cases they will tell you that it's too late to produce in the station and that you need to either contact the Garda who issued the summons in his local station in advance of the court to satisfy him/her that you were insured or simply turn up on the day before the court starts and show the cert. to the Garda, believe me it happens all the time. In that case (you've been summonsed for no insurance and failing to produce) what happens is that when the case is called the Garda will offer no evidence on the no insurance charge so that charge will be struck out, the defendant will offer an excuse as to why he didn't produce the cert. and the judge will convict and either apply the Probation Act or levy a small fine for failing to produce.

Mary Hairy

coylemj wrote: »

I agree with your first point but the OP specifically said that the office was 'failing to produce'. If the offence is relatively minor, you want to plead guilty and cannot appear, a letter to the clerk is perfectly acceptable, especially if the potential fine is less than what it would cost to instruct a solicitor, judges live in the real world as well as the rest of us.



You are completely wrong here, once a summons has been issued there is no point in going to the station and it is not a pain for Gardai to check insurance certs. on the day, it happens all the time. The Garda has his notebook and a copy of the summons in his hand, how could it be a pain to verify that the cert. covers the date and reg. no. of the car that was being driven on the day?

A Garda cannot 'strike the matter out' once the summons has been issued so the court session will go ahead regardless of what cert you produce and to whom. If you go into a Garda station with an insurance cert. and tell them you've been summonsed, in 99% of the cases they will tell you that it's too late to produce in the station and that you need to either contact the Garda who issued the summons in his local station in advance of the court to satisfy him/her that you were insured or simply turn up on the day before the court starts and show the cert. to the Garda, believe me it happens all the time. In that case (you've been summonsed for no insurance and failing to produce) what happens is that when the case is called the Garda will offer no evidence on the no insurance charge so that charge will be struck out, the defendant will offer an excuse as to why he didn't produce the cert. and the judge will convict and either apply the Probation Act or levy a small fine for failing to produce.

When I say go to the station, I mean go to the summonsing guard at the station. They all want to know in advance what is happening. Sometimes they want to ring the insurance company.
Whemn I say strike out, the guard makes an application in court for a strike out.
Sometimes it is not easy to find a guard before the hearing starts. Sometimes he does not come until after the session starts. Judges get very annoyed when the case is called and the defendant produces a cert. Some judges get insulted when there is no one there. Some put up the fine when there is no solicitor.
The o/p said failure to produce, but the question arises how does the guard know he is insured unless he saw a certificate. Very few guards if any would apply for a summons if they know there is insurance. It is 99% likely that there are two offences alleged. The golden Rule in the District Court is always be there either in person or by representation. Things can go horribly wrong. The o/p won't know if a letter arrived or was considered.
It is far better to be careful beforehand than to try and fix up a mess afterwards.

coylemj

Agree with the gist of what you're saying, it's unusual for someone to be summonsed for only failing to produce, it suggests that he did produce but after the 10 days was up.

I still say that instructing a solicitor would be OTT if the only (alleged) offence was failing to produce.