My wife and I, who live in Virginia, were heading north on US 17 on Sunday, May 21 after visiting friends in New Bern. While in Beaufort County, I received a ticket for driving 69 mph in a 55 mph Zone which carried fine $218.00. Court Date set as Monday, July 31, 2017.
The speed limit had been 65 ...mph for a long stretch, but as the NC state trooper said when he pulled us over, the limit had been at 55 mph for some 20 miles - the change indicated by a large yellow sign and posted at intervals along the way.
I simply had failed to notice these speed limit signs - which is not an excuse, but just the reason for my higher speed. Normally, my wife might have caught the change but she has had vision problems, having major eye surgery some weeks earlier. As a result, she was riding with her eyes closed to avoid the bright daylight, although not asleep.
On May 23, I received the first of 11 letters from law firms practicing traffic law in Beufort County. All mentioned that my offense could result in points against my Virginia driver's license and increased car insurance premiums. All 11 firms offered to handle my case for me so I did not have to appear in count. All indicated that they might be able to have the charges reduced so points and an insurance premium increase could be avoided.
I had the feeling that any of these firms could probably represent me reasonably well but delayed choosing one of them. I did not have time to appear in court personally myself so the alternatives were to either sign the citation and send it with the fine or to hire a local lawyer represent me. I was inclined to the latter but wanted to confirm that points and a premium increase were the likely result if I admitted to driving 14 miles over the limit by signing the citation.
I did nothing until June 14. After on-line research I selected 3 firms to possibly call. Dixon & Thompson was not included. However, I decided again to look over the materials from all 11 firms. This time I was most impressed by D & T's mailing. Besides a good cover letter from Samuel Dixon, there was a color brochure about the firm and the consequences of receiving a speeding ticket in NC, and a Waiver of Appearance designating Dixon & Tompson Law, PPLC to represent me. This second impression of D & T's solicitation compared to those from the other firms caused me to check D & T's references on line and then decide to call them first.
I only got around to the call just before 5:00 pm on Friday, June 16. Because it was late in the day, I was expecting to reach an answering machine and ask that someone to contact me on Monday. However, Ms. Patty Bass, an admin assistant answered and was very gracious to talk with me despite the hour. She explained how they would proceed and their fee arrangement and that a Ms. Retha Fooks, a legal assistants, would follow up on our conversation.
Ms. Fooks emailed me early Monday, June 19, fully explaining how they would proceed and the info they needed from me. Based on this, I decided to engage the firm's Samuel Dixon to handle my case.
It took some time to prepare my written statement of events leading up to the ticket and I only provided everything to Ms. Fooks on June 27. At the time, I thought it might be a couple of weeks before I heard back regarding my case, but to my surprise, Ms. Fooks emailed me back on Friday, June 30. It began:
"I am pleased we were able to successfully handle your case, Have a great weekend!"
It added that my ticket was reduced to a lesser violation and that I would not incur any points or increase in insurance premiums.
It turns out that the only individuals with whom I had contact at D & T were Ms Bass and Ms Fooks, which I think was due to the routine nature of my offense. Nonetheless, I feel both were very professional in dealing with me and great assets for D & T. My sincere thanks to them and others at D & T involved in my case.
Warren H.
Virginia