If you are not a Michigan Resident and are stopped for speeding, kindly pay the officer $100

If you drive with a drivers license from out of state--ie non-resident (or you have friends visiting you with an out of state license) there is a little known law that requires the Michigan police officer, upon stopping you for a civil infraction (i.e. speeding) to TAKE YOUR LICENSE,  or TAKE YOUR $100, or TAKE YOUR GUARANTEED APPEARANCE CERTIFICATE.

Because I don't even know what constitutes a guaranteed appearance certificate, I'm sure most of you don't know either, and probably don't have one in your car.

The Bottom Line is this:  If a non-resident is stopped, the police will take their license unless they post a $100 "bond" to ensure that the driver will show up in court in Michigan.

For those who follow the law, you can find it at MCL 257.749

What you can do to get stopped by the police

Ok, so nobody WANTS to get stopped by the police, but it is surprising to me how often I see three common infractions of the law. Any of these infractions could be a reason for you to be pulled over.

1. Tinted windows.  Tinted windows for either the driver or front passenger are Illegal in Michigan (unless you have a doctor's note saying you require the tint).

2. Obscuration of your license plate.  How many cars have brown or black smoked plastic coverings over their license plate?  Looks COOL, but it is a violation of law.

3. Seatbelts.  Yes they are REQUIRED for the front-seat occupants in Michigan.  Local Police have set up special enforcement zones recently to ticket drivers who don't wear their seatbelts.  Oddly, occupants in the back seats that are 16 years old or older don't have to wear them.

How you WONT get a ticket.  Unmanned Red light cameras and Speed Cameras -- they are currently not allowed in Michigan.  Unfortunately,  this is also a prime reason we have so many red-light runners.  Those small cameras you see at intersections are NOT red light cameras, they are safety cameras that monitor traffic.  BUT, stay tuned, there are legislators in Lansing that want to make them legal state wide.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big supporter of our police officers, but I'm also a Criminal Defense Attorney who wants to help you to be in compliance with the law, before you meet our police on the street.


Clay Wittman is a Criminal Defense Attorney in Kentwood, MI.
www.wittmanlegal.com

Do you know the laws about what you MUST do even if you only had "a reason to believe" you may have just been involved in an automobile accident?

The answer may surprise you.  As with any other area of the law, ignorance is no excuse.

The Michigan Motor Vehicle code provides us the answers in Sections 257.617 through 257.622.

First, if you know, or have reason to believe, that you had been involved in an accident resulting in personal injury or ANY property damage you must stop at the scene, or face a misdemeanor criminal citation.

Furthermore you MUST provide the following at the scene:

(a) your name and address, and the registration number of the vehicle he or she is operating, including the name and address of the owner, to a police officer, the individual struck, or the driver or occupants of the vehicle with which he or she has collided.

(b) Render to any individual injured in the accident reasonable assistance in securing medical aid or arrange for or provide transportation to any injured individual.

Again, failure to provide the information or help mentioned in (a) and (b) above could also result in a (another) misdemeanor criminal citation against you.

Furthermore, The driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident that injures or kills any person, or that damages property to an apparent extent totaling $1,000.00 or more, shall immediately report that accident at the nearest or most convenient police station, or to the nearest or most convenient police officer.  Again, failure to do so, could result in a (another) criminal citation.

The BOTTOM LINE is this:  Stop even if you just think you may have hit something, or something hit you.  Render assistance to any injured party, and call the police.  If the police don't respond, exchange your personal information with the other driver.  Then call the police again!

Selling your car to a stranger? Seller BEWARE.

If you sell your Michigan-titled vehicle to a stranger, make sure you keep your license plates.  Also, if any way possible, accompany the buyer to the DMV to ensure the title is transferred to the buyer.  The last option (the much less preferred option) is to fill out the seller's portion of the title, sign it, and keep a photocopy of that title!

All too often I hear of someone who is being sued for an accident involving a vehicle that they sold many months (or years) ago.  As to be expected, when that vehicle was subsequently in an accident, the plaintiff's attorney will sue both the owner(s) of record, as well as the driver.  When the buyer doesn't transfer the title (may not have the money to transfer it), you are still on the hook as the owner of record, unless you can prove you sold it (reason for keeping a copy of that title).

But BY FAR, the best solution is to accompany any buyer of your vehicle to the DMV to make absolutely sure your name is off the title!

Should We Limit Police Access To Body Camera Footage?

Legislators in Oakland, California are proposing laws that would, when there is a incidence of violence with the police, prohibit a police officer from reviewing his "body" camera footage before he writes his police report.

Obviously, this is a hotly contested proposal.

Those for the law would argue that it forces an officer to write more truthful reports, as the video footage will show if the officer distorted the facts.

Those against the law would argue that what happens in the heat of the moment can only best be recollected by reviewing the video footage.

What do you think?

You can see the full article here, Copyright NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/01/403316673/oakland-laws-could-limit-police-access-to-body-camera-footage?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=law

Serving Legal Notice via Facebook message?

In a March case out of Brooklyn, New York (Superior Court), a judge allowed a woman to "serve" her elusive husband a divorce summons via Facebook.

So does this mean that the future of giving notice of a lawsuit to the opposing party can be done electronically without consent from the party being served?  The answer is "no."  Without consent of both parties, the initial papers in a lawsuit are still "required" to be delivered to the opposing party by a form of personal service.  Or at least that you attempt personal service, unless that would be futile.  Most states then allow alternate service if personal service is not possible.

If you read the actual case out of New York, instead of just the headlines on the news services, this particular approval was given as "alternate" service, not as a "new" primary means of serving notice of the lawsuit.

In this particular case, the Plaintiff did not know where the Defendant was located, so she couldn't give him "personal service" (in person delivery of the court papers) or send him registered mail.  So the court allowed her to give "substitute service", which in this case, was via Facebook. 

As long as the substitute or alternate service is reasonably calculated, under all the
circumstances, to apprise a defendant of the lawsuit, it fulfills the requirements provided to us under established case law.  In this particular case, the Judge stated that a Facebook message met this requirement, as an alternate form of service.

Uninsured Motorists and how Police can find them

It is being reported that since last fall, all Michigan police departments have online access to insurance information from all automotive insurers in Michigan (updated by the insurers twice a month).  Every police officer in a cruiser can access this information via the cruiser's laptop by logging into LEIN (Law Enforcement Information Network). 

Case law provides that a police officer does not need any reasonable suspicion or probable cause to randomly run license plates through the LEIN database.  So what does this mean to you?

A police officer could stop you just because he ran your license plate through LEIN and LEIN showed that you did not have current insurance on your vehicle.  This could be a good thing to keeping uninsured motorists off the road, but it is not without its peril.

What if you changed insurers or just got your insurance three days ago?  That may very well NOT show up in LEIN as current insurance. That alone could give the police officer reason to stop you, when you in fact are insured. 

Because he had reasonable suspicion to stop you in the first place, what about a subsequent search?  What if he viewed an open container in the back seat?  What if smelled an illegal substance?

As for now, it is reported that some police departments will not use the LEIN insurance information as the primary reason for a stop, but they also state that they COULD if they wanted to.