26 |
Overdrive
| January 2017
FIGHTING TICKETS
the blind curve. "What if somebody
then rear-ended me?" he said.
"I would have given them a ticket,"
the officer said.
After the officer's long search through
the rulebook, Buchs was ticketed for not
obeying a traffic-control device.
The ticket was a threat to Buchs' fairly
young contract with Landstar. At that
time, he says, "if we blew a scale on pur-
pose and got a ticket, it was grounds for
canceling our contract."
"Owner-operators have a really vested
interest in maintaining a clean MVR,"
says Brad Klepper of the Oklahoma-
based Klepper Law Firm, founded in
part by his father in the early 1990s. The
firm, with its Drivers Legal Plan service
(DriversLegalPlan.com), has become
national and is dedicated to represent-
ing truckers, maintaining and consulting
a database of cases from nearly every
jurisdiction in the country.
DLP's service is a legal retainer, essen-
tially, for which member drivers pay
$150 annually (or $80 for six months),
many by a weekly settlement deduction
of $2.98, Klepper says. Membership
means flat fees of $250 for handling any
accident case. The vast majority of what
DLP does for members is representing
drivers on tickets for a flat $100 fee.
Another renowned service, Road Law
(RoadLaw.net), comes with a $100 annu-
al retainer fee and its own set of charges
for cases as they arise.
Oklahoma-based owner-operator
Daniel Stearns first came to DLP after
being dissatisfied with a more pricey
legal referral service. About seven years
ago, when a motorist pulled in front of
Stearns and he ended up "pushing them
down the highway sideways," he knew
he needed help.
He felt the case was the work of a
scam artist. The motorist seemed less
upset by the accident than Stearns, for
one thing. Also, after the car had come
to rest on the right edge of the divided
highway, the motorist got out, looked
around, "then got back in and drove
it into the median to make it look like
he ended up there," Stearns says. The
officer on the scene showed no interest
in listening to Stearns' side of the story,
nor that of a witness who backed up
Stearns' version.
Though Stearns wasn't a DLP mem-
ber at the time, he contacted them, and
they handled the case. Klepper and
company today handle nonmember
cases via their Interstate Trucker LTD
affiliate (InterstateTrucker.com), where
fees are negotiated in advance of the
case. Stearns' case cost $600, and he
never had to appear in court or handle
much in the way of legwork.
That wasn't the case when he previ-
ously had attempted to represent him-
self in Shamrock, Texas. "It was over a
The way Illinois-based owner-operator
Gary Buchs found a lawyer to represent
him in an unfamiliar area was simple.
His choice was based on little more than
intuition after scanning local ads for
traffic-ticket specialists in the jurisdic-
tion where his ticket was written.
Using a referral service operated by
a state, county or city bar association
also may yield good results. Membership
in a state or local bar typically means
the attorney is licensed to practice
there. The website of the Tennessee
Bar Association refers those looking
for legal representation to one of three
regional hotlines, while the State Bar of
Texas offers an online lookup service by
legal areas of specialization, including
traffic tickets.
Most every state and many local
jurisdictions have something similar.
Visit the state websites listed below for
more information, or search more local
jurisdictions online.
Legal fees often are negotiable upfront
and may come at flat rates. In addition
to potentially removing the citation from
your record, legal representation often
can save you from having to make an ap-
pearance on an inconvenient date.
RESOURCES: FINDING LEGAL REPRESENTATION
STATE BAR ASSOCIATIONS
Alabama, AlaBar.org
Alaska, AlaskaBar.org
Arizona, AZBar.org
Arkansas, ArkBar.org
California, CalBar.ca.gov
Colorado, COBar.org
Connecticut, CTBar.org
Delaware, Dsba.org
Florida, FloridaBar.org
Georgia, GABar.org
Idaho, isb.Idaho.gov
Illinois, Isba.org
Indiana, INbar.org
Iowa, IowaBar.org
Kansas, KSBar.org
Kentucky, KYBar.org
Louisiana, Lsba.org
Maine, MaineBar.org
Maryland, Msba.org
Massachusetts, MassBar.org
Michigan, MichBar.org
Minnesota, MNBar.org
Mississippi, MSBar.org
Missouri, MOBar.org
Montana, MontanaBar.org
Nebraska, NEBar.com
Nevada, NVBar.org
New Hampshire, NHBar.org
New Jersey, NJsba.com
New Mexico, NMBar.org
New York, NYsba.org
North Carolina, NCBar.org
North Dakota, SbaND.org
Ohio, OhioBar.org
Oklahoma, OKBar.org
Oregon, OsBar.org
Pennsylvania, PABar.org
Rhode Island, RIBar.com
South Carolina, SCBar.org
South Dakota,
StateBarofSouthDakota.com
Tennessee, Tba.org
Texas, TexasBar.com
Utah, UtahBar.org
Vermont, VTBar.org
Virginia, Vba.org
Washington, Wsba.org
West Virginia, WVBar.org
Wisconsin, WisBar.org
Wyoming, WyomingBar.org
