Q: Does referring a traffic citation to civil collections bar court prosecution?
I was notified well after the fact of traffic citations I was not aware of and not presented in person. There was no signed promise to appear. The court referred them to private collections law firm and added a failure to appear, even though there was no promise to appear and no summons. I've never seen this before done at this particular municipal court because I have never had a ticket that wasn't handed to me to sign. So does the court surrender it's jurisdiction to prosecute a citation now that it's been referred to collections? I can't find that answer in the TCCP or traffic statutes.
[edit] I don't buy the knee jerk answer to just get a lawyer. There IS an answer to the question as to whether pursuing civil remedies via collections causes the court to waive criminal prosecution, and that answer is either "yes" or "no". I am looking for the person who knows that answer.
A: You need to get an attorney on your side. You cannot find an answer because there isn't one. You have already been prosecuted, you just were not there, you did not get notice, and it will take an attorney to try to set this aside.
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