ROAD SAGE: A $1,500 fight against a $290 ticket

For three months, Kristina Nairn has been waiting for her day in court.

She doesn’t believe she broke the law during an August business trip and she’s ready to prove it. But three months later, she’s been unable to get a workable court date. And it isn’t for lack of trying.

She's spent more than $1,500 so far — to fight a $290 traffic ticket.

“The calamity of errors is funny to me but it’s just been frustrating trying to work through this,” Nairn said. “I feel like I’ve gone above and beyond trying to take care of this.”

Nairn lives in Wisconsin. People are nice there. I’m from New Jersey and I call ‘em like I see ‘em: I’ve always found municipal court employees among the most helpful of public employees. They’re tasked with managing thousands of violations every year and, in my experience, do it without breaking a sweat.

But this is the most incredible display of complete incompetence I’ve ever come across.

Let’s start with the traffic ticket itself, issued to a Kristina “Nair.” She was pulled over on Aug. 8, which would make it relatively difficult for her to attend an Aug. 7 court date.

Unless she’s hiding something from me, Nairn hasn’t figured out the whole “time machine” thing yet.

At first, it seemed like a simple mix-up. She called the Aberdeen court, and they rescheduled the court date.

So, on Aug. 23, Nairn flew from Wisconsin to Newark and drove to Aberdeen, back down the Parkway again. She strolled up to Aberdeen Municipal Court, ready to stand up for truth and justice…only to find the lights off and the doors locked.

The court scheduled her appearance for a Sunday. Courts are not open on Sunday.

“It never crossed my mind. I thought it was odd it was on a Sunday, but it didn’t cross my mind that it would be inaccurate,” Nairn said. "The court failed to appear in court."

Another mix-up, the Aberdeen court said. But the next one was scheduled for Saturday, August 29.

“Maybe they’re open on Saturdays, but not Sundays,” Nairn thought. She bought another plane ticket just to be sure. And by the time she realized she was stuck in the same boat, Delta refused to refund her flight.

Another court date didn’t fit with Nairn’s work schedule, as working for a Department of Defense contractor means lots of business trips.

Mercifully, a fifth court date was finally scheduled for a Wednesday morning. The bad news? It’s Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving – the most hectic and expensive travel day of the year. The cheapest flight I could find came in at $426.

When I called the Aberdeen court, I was told that Nairn's case was active and that they were working with her to resolve it.

For Nairn, the only real resolution would come in the form of a dismissal: After spending more than $1,500, she’s dwarfed anything she’d pay in fines and court fees.

On Monday, Nairn filed a hardship claim allowing her to plead not guilty without having to appear -- an option she claims was never offered by the municipal court employees she spoke with.

In New Jersey, a “failure to keep right” violation comes with a $185 fine -- $290 for Nairn, since it was on the Parkway, a “safe corridor.”

She’s already purchased two flights, a rental car, and a hotel room in her quest for a court date. That’s more than $1,500 to fight a ticket that, if she pleaded guilty, would cost less than a fifth of that.

“Now that I’ve gone above and beyond to try and fight this ticket, it’s mostly a matter of pride,” Nairn said. “Nobody in their right mind would spend that much money unless they had a good reason. And it’s simple: I’m innocent.”

Send comments, questions, road tips and angry rants to mdavis@gannettnj.com. Click here to sign up for Mike’s weekly Road Sage newsletter.