Inquiry: I was sitting at a red light and I looked down and it appeared that my phone had been on and looked as though it had called someone. I picked it up said hello, no one was there so I put it back down. Next thing I know I have a police officer knocking on my window accussing me of talking on the phone. I told him what happened, he said I saw you talking on the phone and issued me a ticket anyway. I was going to fight it and plea my case, however I became deathly ill and went into renal failure. The last thing on my mind was this ticket. I also moved in that time and had received not notices of the ticket in the mail and I had setup the mail redirection thing at the post office. I tried reopeing the case with the explanation of going into renal failure and they denied me with an explanation of no jurisdiction. I have been fined and told I have the option to appeal. Do I have a case.
Response: The hand-held communication device charges do not actually require the defendant to be actively using the device, simply holding the device is sufficient to have the charge issued. Appeals are a fairly involved process and the merits of an appeal would need to be discussed in more detail than you have provided here. If you would like to discuss the matter in more detail, we offer a no-cost initial review of cases via our toll-free number 1-866-801-8299.
Sincerely,
Greg Currie
Office Manager (London)