I would like to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Ian, Melad and Mark--the attorneys at Road Justice--for getting my suspended drivers license reinstated!! Earlier this year, I was involved in a minor fender-bender. Even though the accident was not my fault, any damage totaling more than $1000 (by law) gets reported to the DMV. Several weeks later, the DMV later contacted my insurance company and requested confirmation that the vehicle I was driving at the time of the accident was "covered". This is where things get messy. The vehicle I was driving at the time was a new lease, and unfortunately I had not updated my insurance to reflect this--in other words, I did have insurance it was just covering my old lease and not the new one. Skip ahead four months and I receive a letter in the mail from the DMV stating that I was in violation of CVC Section 16070 and that my drivers license will be suspended for a period of one year!!
Suspended for one year?? That seemed rather excessive to me. I am 52 years old. I've been driving since I was 16. I have a clean driving record--no tickets or accidents. Never had any issues with my drivers license in the past, nor have I ever had to file an accident claim with any auto insurance company. But that's the law in California: if you're involved in an auto accident (regardless of who's at fault) and the vehicle you're driving is not insured at the time of the accident, your drivers license is *automatically* suspended!
What to do? I talked to several people and they recommended contacting a DMV attorney for legal advice. Well I must have called at least 15 different DMV lawyers. Half of them never got back to me. The other half either "didn't handle cases like mine" or basically said, "Yeah, the suspension is automatic; there is really nothing you can do about it. Contact your insurance company and request an SR-22 and then go to the DMV and apply for a restricted license."
A "SR-22"? A "Restricted License"? I had never even heard these terms before!
Simply put, an SR-22 is documentation provided by your insurance company that confirms you've met the state's requirement regarding auto liability insurance.
A restricted license basically means you can only drive to-and-from work, pick-up and drop-off your kids from school and for doctors' appointments. That wouldn't work for me. I already work from home full-time, I don't have kids and aside from a routine physical (once or twice a year), I have no reason to drive to the doctor's office. Oh, and did I mention the $250 application/penalty fee you pay the DMV for a restricted license? There had to be a better option!
After hunting around on the internet, I discovered the legal team of Ian, Melad and Mark at Road Justice (https://roadjustice.com/). They not only handled my case, they actually got my drivers license reinstated! No SR-22, no restricted license! Full driving privileges restored. How's that for results? It wasn't easy to be sure, and it took several weeks of back-and-forth emails, phone calls and lots of waiting on hold. Trying to resolve any claim or coverage issue with most insurance companies can be hard enough, and it's even harder when the DMV gets involved. But doing all this during a global pandemic where businesses are short-staffed, employees are working remotely / "out of the office" indefinitely or don't bother to return your calls, is even worse. Fortunately, team Road Justice never quit on me--even when my insurance company (on several occasions) tried to stonewall them by escalating the issue to another manager or the DMV kept requesting new or additional documentation--Ian, Melad and Mark never gave up!
In the end, we had to get the insurance company to not only retroactively cover the month of the accident, but provide proof of that insurance so we could then forward that to the DMV to get my drivers license reinstated. Yes, it was a big hassle, but when you consider the alternative (driving on restricted license for a year) it was worth all the effort!
Today I feel like a free man, I'm finally able to drive again! If your drivers license is ever suspended (for whatever reason), I strongly recommend contacting the law firm of Road Justice. They know how to deal with the DMV. Their rates are reasonable, and if they can help me (my case was unusually difficult), I'm confident they can help you as well.
A million thanks again Road Justice! I couldn't have done it without you!!
Law Firm of Road Justice
Phone: 1-833-762-3946
Web: https://roadjustice.com/
Email: info@roadjustice.com read more