Should I Worry if Appearance Extension Date Was Granted After the Initial Due Date

My question involves traffic court in the State of: California, los angeles

Hi, so I completely forgot about my ticket and I checked two days ago online and my initial due date was 3/26/12.
I didnt know what to do since the appearance date has passed. I saw that there was an option to extend my appearance date, and I did and now it says

Case Status: Extension
Last Action/
New Appearance Date: 05/25/2012

Does that mean I am ok? even though i applied for the extension after the initial date?

I would REALLY REALLY appreciate any kind of help.

thanks

I know the answer you were hoping for is "yeah, you should be fine"... But only a fool would say that when it is possible to compound one problem on top of another! And I ain't no fool!

Sooooo, the short answer is "May Be"...

Long answer is LONG:

Really, the only kind of help we can offer here is based on definitive information you provide... Meaning, we can try and guess what the court has done, is doing or will do, but none of it is certain.

I can tell you that in spite of a somewhat different answer I gave in a different thread just a day or two ago, if you fail to appear or pay on the due date, then the typical course of action that the court will start with the mailing of a second/warning Courtesy Notice to the defendant, reminding him/her of their failure to appear and informing them that their failure to respond to that notice (usually printed on yellow paper) within 10 days of the date it was mailed will subject them to one OR ALL of the following:

* A "failure to appear/pay" charge Vehicle code section 40508 is added to their case (in addition to the original underlying offence) The fine for that depends on whether it is filed as an infraction -the fine will be $234-, or as a misdemeanor - the fine will be $275;
* Penalty civil assessment of $250 maybe added by the court as well pursuant to Penal Code Section 1214.1;
* A hold notice is sent to the DMV ordering the department to suspend your license until the matter is resolved with the court.

Now, I can tell you "if you haven't received that notice then you're golden.. Nothing to worry about" -BUT- I don't know if (the citation and therefore) the court has your correct/current mailing address, so the notice/no notice test might not be good enough...

I can also tell you that "if you were able to get an extension online, then you should be OK", but I offer no guarantees, and the online status system for Los Angeles County is quite lacking. If you've never dealt with a failure to appear and a suspended license and the possible consequences related to both (misdemeanor charge for driving while suspended, vehicle being towed and impounded... etc), I can imagine it would be quite the wake up call, and it might happen when you least expected.

Even if you've received the notice, AND were able to get a new date online, I still would suggest you take the time to contact the court and make the inquiry with them. Just noticed you did mention Los Angeles... Meaning the only way to contact the court is by paying them a personal visit, whi8ch in my opinnion, should be your first order of business Monday! You can go to court Monday morning, although I can tell you the line maybe long, and the wait maybe longer. If you can do without driving until later in the day, you would probably be better off going mid morning or mid afternoon...

My other piece of advice is do not drive until you can confirm with the court that no notice was sent to the DMV.

So in answer to your question, "Should I Worry?"... My answer is, "No, don't worry yet, but make an effort to make sure you have nothing to worry about!"

Chances are, you may be OK. Good luck!

They granted it ... so its going to be hard for anyone, including the court, to argue.