My question involves vehicle registration or title in the state of: California. Los Angeles.
I was stopped in March of 2012 in Los Angeles and given a "fix it" ticket by the officer for an expired registration. I did not realize that my tags were expired, but believed him. I was in the process of leasing a new car at the time, and the car dealer said they would take care of the ticket for me. I went to renew my license this month (November 2012) and was told that there was a court judgement against me for never paying the fix it ticket and that the case had been sent to collections. The amount owed was now 3x the original. I called the car dealer and after much going around, he paid the fine to the collection agency this week. NOW, he has called me to tell me that he pulled the DMV records on that car and that the registration was never expired in the first place and that the officer was wrong in issuing the ticket. He would like me to see if I can recover the funds and if so, reimburse him. If he is correct, I have no problem doing that, but I have no idea where to begin. The collection agency has now collected the funds, so they are no help. The L.A. superior court is no help, and neither is the DMV. Everyone says, well you should have shown up in court back in March when you got the ticket and proven that it was incorrect...too late now. I see their point, but it seems there must be some redress. Any thoughts appreciated.