Traffic in Paradise

 “When bad things happen to good people…The Litigation Center can help,” opined a flyer from Jackie Woodward.  

By Rebecca Wakefield
Columnist

Last month marked my first brush with the local court system as a potential miscreant, as far as they know. I was stopped by an amiable, if much too vigilant Miami Beach police officer who ran my license plate as I was driving down 15th Street toward Alton Road. The officer discovered my driver’s license was six months expired. I didn’t even know they could do that just by running the license. Damnable technology.

I’ve paid so many parking tickets over the years; Miami Beach probably owes me a plaque with my name on it. Speeding tickets? A few. But far more times, the nice man in the uniform just let me off with a warning. Ah, the benefits of being a white girl in America.

But this time was different. For one, the officer’s first name was Fulgencio, which made me wonder, as I waited for him to run me through the system, if sharing a name with a deposed dictator makes a person more or less of a hard case. ’Gencio, as I came to think of him in those brief moments, turned out to be somewhere in the middle. Despite my best attempts at wide-eyed ignorance, he explained that an extreme aversion to setting foot in the DMV office was no excuse for running around town without a valid driver’s license. Turns out it’s a bit of a criminal offense to let it lapse for so long.

So he wrote me a ticket that required me to show up in a court cattle call with exactly the sort of humanity I was trying to avoid at the DMV. This is when I entered the computer system of the Miami-Dade County Clerk’s Office, which promptly sold my misdeed to the public information marketplace for $2.50 (not just me, thousands of fellow traffic scofflaws were on the daily list sold by the county). Miami-Dade officials told me that there are around 750,000 traffic cases a year in Miami, most of them tickets people just pay.

A few days later, my mailbox was full of flyers from local lawyers, offering to navigate the uncertain justice system on my behalf. They ranged from a simple white letter or modest postcard, to eye-bleedingly bright yellow flyers with red and black letters. Most can be hired over the phone with a credit card, so you don’t even have to see the inside of a courtroom.

I didn’t know what to make of it, but I noticed right off that most of the lawyers use their middle initial. Kind of how serial killers are almost always identified with a middle name. Billy Bob Johnson, Esq., a real killer in the courtroom. Could be a good thing.

Some ads listed the possible traffic offenses they would handle, from speeding and running red lights, to reckless driving, suspended licenses and DUIs. Prices hovered around $60 or $70 for one ticket (plus court costs), less for fighting more than one at a time. Most offered qualified money back guarantees. How could I lose?

“Don’t pay that ticket! Now you can fight back!” screamed a letter from Randy S. Maultasch, a Coral Gables lawyer “with nearly 25 years of experience.”

“If you pay your ticket instead of fighting it, you’ll automatically receive a conviction, points on your record plus, your insurance could increase up to 75% for even one ticket and car rental agencies many not rent a car to you!”

OK, now I’m concerned. Also, skeptical. But it wasn’t just Randy who was worried about me. “When bad things happen to good people…The Litigation Center can help,” opined a flyer from Jackie Woodward. “Did you know: You are innocent until proven guilty?” Miami Shores attorney Scott J. Hidnert posited in his flyer. Can that be true? Does the system work for the average person?

“WE BELIEVE ALMOST ANY CASE CAN BE WON!” This reassuring statement came from The Ticket Clinic, the kings of local traffic lawyering. The Ticket Clinic was started in Miami in 1987 by Mark S. Gold, an admitted speeding freak who turned defending his own numerous tickets into a profitable venture. The clinic, which also has a companion traffic school, now has 11 offices around the state.

If a hierarchy of traffic lawyers can be established by glancing at an ad, Gold and company are at the top. Their flyer is huge, full-color and glossy. The front shows courthouse steps and a lone attorney heroically hiking up them, presumably to do battle with the forces of lawfulness for the benefit of the little people. Inside, tasteful photos of Gold and partner Ted L. Hollander in sober-looking suits contrast with the overuse of capital letters, bold fonts and exclamation points. “NO POINTS! NO SCHOOL! NO COURT!”

Jason A. Diamond, a former public defender with offices in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, considers Mark Gold to be kind of a traffic mentor. It’s clear from Diamond’s flyer, which is also big and glossy, and features a shot of the baby-faced Diamond with leather briefcase against the background of a courthouse. Another huge photo shows Diamond at his desk, looking very earnest — and about 16 years old (he assures me he’s 37).

He’s the “attorney of record in 100,000+ cases,” which reveals how this business works – on volume. “We gotta do volume to make money,” Diamond admits. “We go to court and we almost always get it dismissed. Either the cop fills [the ticket] out wrong, or doesn’t show up, or something. Or we plead out and pay the court cost, but there’s no points on the license.”

Diamond says he fell into the business because he was doing criminal defense and a lot of the cases ended up being in the traffic arena. He’s heard it all. “Everyone has a story: ‘It wasn’t me,’” he says. “Or, the cops were rude, or he caught me in a speed trap. The courts would rather deal with a lawyer. It cuts down on the frustration of judges.”

But these screaming ads, and this competitive business—it sort of feels like a scam, I said to Diamond. “I used to get that a lot,” he says. “We’re no different than personal injury lawyers. We’re lawyers, not used car salesmen. No one is going to risk their license for $60. It’s a niche business.”

Kenneth Marvin, director of lawyer regulation at the Florida Bar, says 90 percent of complaints against lawyers come from other lawyers, usually because they don’t want them to have a competitive advantage by breaking the rules. Currently, there’s only one local lawyer with a complaint filed about his advertising – Mark Gold. “Dade County and Broward County are definitely the hotspots [for this business],” Marvin observes. “It’s grown from one or two firms a few years ago to many firms. I think lawyers didn’t think there was enough money in it, but apparently there are enough traffic tickets.”

So, did I hire any of these guys? Nah. I figured I’d take my chances. If I ended up in a mess, at least it would be a good story. Fortunately, the judge saw things my way.

Rebecca Wakefield’s column appears every other week. Comments? E-mail wakefield@miamisunpost.com.