The Court: Werribee Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Dylan Morris
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client attended our Werribee office with $101,601 worth of infringement warrants. The clients’ warrants spanned from 2008 through to 2013. There were 370 infringement warrants in total, with 352 of the warrants relating to Eastlink and Citylink. The balance includes parking fines and two speeding fines.
Ostensibly, it appeared that the client had a complete disregard for his obligations as a road user and refused to pay the fines. After digging deeper and taking full instructions, it was revealed that the client in 2010 had attempted to manage his debt by contacting Fines Victoria and arranging for payments to be made. Between February 2010 and December 2011, the client paid a total of $12,000 to alleviate his debt. In January of 2012, his daughter was born with a heart defect and following that time, the client not only stopped paying his existing debts but incurred further debt.
At Court:
Due to the default in payment and the fact that the fines were very dated, Fines Victoria referred the matter to the Sheriff. The Sheriff made contact with our client and issued an Enforcement Warrant. Upon the expiration of the seven-day notice, the Sheriff executed the warrant, and the client was subsequently arrested and bailed to appear at Werribee Magistrates Court.
Our solicitor attended court with the client, and submissions were made about the client’s personal circumstances and why he had defaulted on the payments following his daughter’s birth. His daughter’s medical records were also tendered to the court. Submissions were also made regarding the amount of money that had already been paid back to Fines Victoria, which exceeded the original amount that would have been incurred if the client had paid at the time of using the various tollways.
The Outcome:
It was put to the court that, regarding section 165(1)(a) of the Fines Reform Act 2014 (Vic), given the client’s circumstances, the court should fully discharge the $101,601. The Magistrate agreed, and all fines were discharged.
This was a remarkable outcome. It was achieved because the client had made significant efforts at repayment and had also had powerful mitigating circumstances related to his daughter’s illness. These factors, combined with careful preparation, strong submissions and supportive documentation, resulted in the right outcome in this case.
