Question regarding my license and an accident

Back in June 2014, I was involved in an at-fault accident with my previous employer, who shall remain nameless right now. I got a ticket for Driving Too Fast To Avoid A Collision issued by an Indiana State Trooper. I gave everything to my employer the next day and they said they would take care of it. I heard nothing from them for 3 months. Then today, I get a letter from the Indiana BMV saying my license has been suspended since 9/3/14.

Because I was told that the company would take care of it, since it was a mechanical failure of the truck and not my physical fault at all, and then heard nothing from them about it, do I have a leg to stand on or do I have to pay the $1,500 ticket myself?

Just to clarify, the mechanical failure was the foot brake valve. I pulled the parking brake, left the trailer brakes open, and I still hit the other vehicle. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

 

You need an attorney. For future reference, YOU are always responsible to ensure that charges against you are handled properly - never trust a carrier to do it for you. And my guess would be yeah, $1500, plus attorneys fees, court costs and administrative fees to get your license back... unless the attorney's good enough to get you off. And even that will be expensive...

 

I cant imagine a company saying they will take care of yout ticket for you. Not for a ticket of this nature anyway. Sounds like you didnt appear in court or pay the fine either, so the state suspended your DL until it's taken care of. I think there's something missing here, probably a lack of communication between you and the company. This is quite different from getting a ticket at a scale or roadside inspection in which the equipment is found defective and the company pays the fine. Did the company continue to dispatch you for those three months before you got the suspension letter or were you let go? Was the company written up for faulty equipment or anything at the time of the accident?

 

Well heck. Alright. Thanks

 

They were dispatching me during the next 2 months. I quit last month because I got a $53 paycheck for 2500 miles worth of driving. I said screw you and left.

And during that time, there was a blatant lack of communication. I would call the boss, and leave him messages, and never hear anything back from him.

 

wow. A company like that should be in the "bad carriers" list. You're going to need some money...good luck. $53? For a week?

 

They already are. Evans Equipment.

Yeah. Heck, I was a month behind anyway so I'm still getting paychecks from them. The one I just got was for $136.28 take home. For 2,000 miles.

 

BTW... if you are still driving - STOP!!! Driving a CMV on a suspended license is a major violation... that is SERIOUS trouble.

 

Oh I know that. I'm at home right now. I'm not driving a big rig anymore. I work for an industrial cleaning company. We clean boilers at power plants. As long as I don't have to drive anything on the road, I still have a job there.

 

First off, you should never entrust a third party to take care of your legal issues. Second, "the mechanical failure". I'm assuming you have some proof of this correct? Even if you do, it is still your fault for not doing a proper pre-trip, the driver always loses in this industry. By the way, if the mechanical failure happened like you said it did I am baffled on how you handled the situation. I think you need to go back to driving school and retake the section on air-brakes because the course of action you took was that of a confused student.