What would my chances of winning be if I were to take this citation to court?
Mar 07, 2010
in
Tornado Shelters
I’m a storm spotter. I’m supposed to call in severe weather reports to the National Weather Service. If I go down the street with a bull horn and say "This is a tornado warning, seek shelter immediately." and receive a ticket, what would be my chances of winning if I were to challenge this in court? Sources? Would I go to traffic court or small claims court? Any court fees? I’ll represent myself.
A citation for causing a public panic. I was just trying to inform people about a tornado warning.
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
5 comments
HammerNH on March 7, 2010 at 9:25 am
A ticket for what?
I don’t see an infraction here.
sandy eggo on March 7, 2010 at 9:25 am
Just because you’re a gov worker doesn’t give you carte blanche to do what you want.
Your duty is to report to the NWS, not to warn people.
But I don’t see you getting a ticket for it. If you did get one, i’d say you have a 1 in a million chance of winning.
silky1 on March 7, 2010 at 9:25 am
If spotting storms is your profession I’m sure you have the proper credentials to prove it. If you were to receive a ticket for warning people of and upcoming severe weather event you would have to prove in a traffic court that you are a qualified professional and win the case. No court fees if you win.
Holly on March 7, 2010 at 9:25 am
small claims is civil litigation; if you got a ticket it has nothing to do with civil litigation. and of course you would represent yourself, there is no other method of representation for this type of infraction.
chances are you would plead guilty or not guilty (what would the charge be? noise disturbance? disturbing the peace?) and you would, obviously, plead not guilty. from then you would show up, state your case to the prosecutor before court started, and i’d bet a hundred bucks and my amex points that you’d get it dropped. good luck
jj on March 7, 2010 at 9:25 am
if you seen the tornado on the ground the you have a good chance, you should know as a storm spotter that if NWS issued the warning because if picked up by radar then you need the visual Evidence.