socal 3.9 year old parking ticket, collection/law firm expert help please

[bourgogne]

Hi,  got a nice letter from linebarger goggan blair & sampson llp today.  parking ticket from 1/15/2016.  $ 191. logged into the city portal and its listed there. leased vehicle that I turned in 10/2016.  I do not remember getting any such ticket but the location is not out of the question so lets say its mine.  I purchased a new vehicle 10/2016.  renewed the registration in 2017, 2018 and I just got my renewal and there is no mention of the ticket and I renewed my drivers license in 12/2017 and the ticket did not show there as well. 

normally in ca if one forgets about a ticket the dmv will process the ticket with a registration or drivers licence renewal and forward it to the appropriate agency.  This is what would/should have happened and my guess is the payment did not get posted by the courts or who knows.  I don't show any payment record via the dmv although I suppose they would have such information. 

I guess my overall question is do I care about following up on this?  its not a lot of money and I could just pay it, then again I don't like to pay 2x for things as its still = to 4 decent bottles of bourbon or tequila.  comments welcome.  thank you

mods: did not know exactly where to post this, sorry

[FireMedic1]

Its probably you. Tickets will have either the license plate, plate decal w/registration #, VIN, and make/model of vehicle. Call them and ask what vehicle is the ticket for. If it matches. Pay it. Some states, cities, county's will place a boot on your car until its paid and trash your rims. Good Luck!

[bourgogne]

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

Its probably you. Tickets will have either the license plate, plate decal w/registration #, VIN, and make/model of vehicle. Call them and ask what vehicle is the ticket for. If it matches. Pay it. Some states, cities, county's will place a boot on your car until its paid and trash your rims. Good Luck!

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hey, you had me at trash your rims lol.  they have all the correct info, the question is did I already pay it via the dmv and the city did not clear the ticket.  I find it hard to believe that I paid 3 current registration renewals and a drivers license renewal and this did not show up and get paid somewhere along the line.  the ticket is from 1/2016.  los angeles is a cash machine in this regard.  to this end I made an appt with the dmv for this coming tuesday and I will get a printout of all the parking tickets I paid for and go from there.  I read some interesting arguments that a ticket will not travel with an individual because a parked car that has nobody in it is just an empty car.  also read the opposite, so it seems there is some gray area in this.  the letter I got from this law firm is just a request to pay it, there is no threat that anything will happen if I don't.  the whole thing is kind of odd.  have a nice weekend, thanks for the response 

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling that as long as it’s your car, ultimately you’ll be responsible for it even if its history doesn’t travel actively and block registrations. It’s kind of like photo radar tickets - your car is captured speeding, so you are automatically liable in the end, regardless of whether you or someone else was driving, or if a shot of the driver is even visible. And since the state owns the DMV, the cameras, the court, and the system/process, no matter how unjust it may seem, there isn’t much recourse.

[DaveInAZ]

I'm not getting where the collection/law firm comes in? With all those processes to catch up with unpaid parking tickets - car registration/license renewals - it would seen turning an unpaid parking ticket over to a CA would not be standard practice. What proof did the CA provide that the ticket was yours, unpaid, and they had legal authority to collect it?

That reminds me, I have an unpaid parking ticket from Palm Springs in the early 2000s, a hundred & something dollar ticket for 2 inches of my front bumper extending into a red curb for 10 minutes while I went into a casino to cash a check. It was a rental car with Nevada plates, catch me if you can!

[bourgogne]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I have a feeling that as long as it’s your car, ultimately you’ll be responsible for it even if its history doesn’t travel actively and block registrations. It’s kind of like photo radar tickets - your car is captured speeding, so you are automatically liable in the end, regardless of whether you or someone else was driving, or if a shot of the driver is even visible. And since the state owns the DMV, the cameras, the court, and the system/process, no matter how unjust it may seem, there isn’t much recourse.

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I hear you and I am not trying to get out of paying it, I just don't want to pay for it 2x.  one quick, hopefully, stop to the dmv will clear the matter up.  even though based on my time financially it does not make sense to track this down I am just wired this way, I just don't want to double pay, esp something like this

[Anonymous]

I hear you completely and hope it works out. If your DMV is as inept as mine I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[bourgogne]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I hear you completely and hope it works out. If your DMV is as inept as mine I wouldn’t hold my breath.

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lol too funny..I am going to culver city which is decent.  the office in santa barbara is incredible as one can imagine.  these guys are totally about data, all they have to spit out is everything I paid to them in the past 3-4 years inc payments made and disbursed to parking enforcement agencies.  I seldom get tickets of any kind but for parking I pay on the spot vai my phone.  if this ticket did slip through the cracks then it probably did accelerate all the late fees and assessments than they could toss in so we really are talking about close to $ 400 here.  that is 18 bottles of buffalo trace.  I am going to that dmv lol.  could not believe they gave me such a quick appt.  will update shortly!

[AverageJoesCredit]

Dont pay it, fight it to the very last essence of your being. Redtape the redtapers

[bourgogne]

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@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Dont pay it, fight it to the very last essence of your being. Redtape the redtapers

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ha-ha I need your suggestions like a hole in the head lol..what, you are gaslighting me cause you know that's exactly what I want to do, stick it to the man ha-ha