Accident cases are treated differently than normal traffic violations by the District Attorney’s office. They require two pieces of information before they will consider a reduction.
A copy of the accident report. This is NOT what is given to you at the time of the accident. The accident report takes a minimum of 3 days before it is ready.
- For accidents where local police show up, you can obtain the accident report from the Court. You will need to purchase it.
- For accidents where State Troopers show up, you will need to download and fill out form MV-198c from this link.
A letter from your insurance company, on their letterhead. The letter must read:
- “We have accepted liability”. “The claim has been paid and closed.” “There are no outstanding liabilities.”
- If a claim was not made, the letter must state “We have accepted liability.” “No claim has been made at this point but we will cover a claim if one is made”.
Until we have those two pieces of information, the District Attorney’s office will not consider any request for a reduction on the ticket.
If you have a Court date coming up before you have the information needed, then you should call the Court at least 48 hours in advance and request a postponement. If the Court will not postpone your Court date, then you will need to go to Court and plead not guilty. They will assign you another Court date which gives you more time to get the necessary paperwork.