Traffic Violations Bureau
The Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB), in the Five Boroughs of New York City, is not a "real" court like the ones you see on TV.
In a real town court, a real judge is a local who is elected by locals. It is a court of general jurisdiction, bustling with gun charges and domestic violence, DWI, landlord/tenant, small claims cases, etc. He performs weddings and sends people to jail. So the real judge doesn't have the time to conduct trials on pesky traffic tickets.
Since he is given broad authority, the town justice can have his town attorney offer your lawyer a "deal" called a plea bargain. Without the town paying the cop to come to court to testify, your lawyer agrees to have you pay a much higher fine, and the town agrees to reduce or erase the points.
Thus the town rakes in more dough, and spends less on police overtime. By walking away with no points, you don't pay higher car insurance premiums, which is what we all want. Everyone is a winner!
Unfortunately, TVB is just the opposite. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) is not elected by the locals, but appointed by people in faraway Albany. Because it's not a town court, the ALJ does not have the authority to send people to prison, and cannot offer plea bargains. She is ruled by the iron fist of Albany's computer program.
Therefore, the ALJ really does have all day long to have trials on every single traffic ticket. Indeed, Albany does not authorize her to do anything else. Her actual civil service title is "referee." The ALJ can't even marry people, like the Staten Island ferry captain can!
Practice Areas
At LOJM, we specialize in:
What LOJM Does for You
There is no town attorney at TVB.
There is no town attorney at TVB. The cop appears on every case and acts as his own prosecutor. LOJM can represent you in your absence. The burden of proof is on the cop, who is not a lawyer, to make out the charges. There is no burden, on defense counsel, to prove a negative in the United States. For example, LOJM doesn't have to prove that your light was green, not red, or that you were going 50, not 90. Why?
Because it's still America, that's why!
LOJM has been defending drivers for nearly 30 years.
It has fought back by developing its own checklists for speeds and nonspeeds, to determine whether the cop has established each and every element of his case. When it is not victorious, LOJM charges ahead into the appeals process. Many people mistakenly believe, however, that an appeal is a "do over," that all the parties come back to TVB for an encore. No, the appeals process is done strictly by mail or email, without any input by the ALJ or the cop.
Let LOJM fight for you,
as it has for thousands of clients over the years. We go to the TVB as well as the town courts of Long Island and upstate New York.
Need advice?
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!