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The
Infringements Court
What
is the Infringements
Court?
The
Infringements
Court
is a branch of the Magistrates Court of
Victoria. It's primary purpose is to
make court orders to enforce the
payment of fines. It is not a court
which hears disputes over infringement
notices. Those disputes are dealt with
by objecting
to your fine
to have the case referred to a
Magistrates Court, or by seeking
revocation of an enforcement
order. The infringements Court is
not a court in the traditional sense.
It is an administrative division of the
Department of Justice. It does not make
judicial decisions. There are no
Magistrates, no hearings, no witnesses,
no defendants or prosecutors. There is
just a fine recorded on a computer
system and it gets shuffled from one
area to another as the default
continues. If you have a question about
your fine, you should first contact
Civic
Compliance,
not the Infringements Court.
Prior to July 2006 the Infringements
Court was known as the PERIN
Court.
What
is the infringement enforcement
process?
Fine
is issued
There
are over 100 government authorities
that are authorised to issue
on-the-spot fines in the form of
infringement notices and penalty
notices. If a person pays the penalty
shown on an infringement notice, the
matter comes to an end. No further
proceedings may be taken in respect of
the offence. No conviction is recorded
unless it is a licence loss
infringement notice.
If
an infringement notice suspends or
cancels the person's driver's licence,
the person must lodge an objection
within 28 days of the date of the
notice if they wish to avoid licence
loss or challenge the matter in court. It also stops a conviction being
recorded against them for the offence
alleged in the notice. The licence loss
aspect is enforced by VicRoads. The
financial penalty component is enforced
at the Infringements Court. It is not
possible to contest any part of a
licence loss infringement notice unless
the driver sends in an objection to the
notice within 28 days of the date the
notice was served.
Reminder Letter
When
a person fails to pay within time a fine that does not carry licence
loss (such as a parking fine, most traffic fines or a litter fine) the
person is sent a reminder notice by a quasi-government agency called
Civic Compliance. Civic Compliance is a debt collection agency operated
for the government by Serco Ltd, a private company. A person who
receives a reminder letter is given another 28 days to pay the penalty
together with a small recovery fee added on top. If the person wants to
challenge the infringement offence they need to elect within the
permitted time to have the matter heard and determined in court.
Instructions on how to send in your election to go to court can be
found on the reverse of the infringement notice or the back of the
reminder letter. If the election is given within time (i.e. before an
enforcement order is made), the infringement notice will be withdrawn
and a charge and summons will be served for the alleged offence. If the
enforcement agency (e.g. the police or a council) wishes to prosecute
the offender the agency must file and serve a charge and summons. In
the majority of cases the charge must be filed at court within 12
months of the date of the offence.
Enforcement
Order made
A
person who fails to pay the fine and fails to lodge an election to take
the aase to court risks having the penalty enforced by way of
enforcement order. Civic Compliance will refer the infringement penalty
to the Infringements Court for an enforcement order to be made in
respect of the penalty. The person is then sent a letter advising them
that the enforcement order has been made, that more costs have been
incurred and they must now pay the infringement penalty and costs
within a specified time or else a warrant will be issued to recover the
debt. This usually takes place about two months after the reminder
letter is sent. The making of an enforcement order also causes demerit
points to accrue in respect of many traffic offences. Sometimes an
enforcement order is made even though the person has elected to take
the matter to court, in which case it is very important to get some
expert legal advice. If you wish to contest an infringement offence but
you are too late to elect to take it to court because an enforcement
order has been made, you will need to apply for revocation of the
enforcement order. An enforcement order can be revoked up until the
time that a warrant is executed (i.e. provided the sheriff has not
seized property or arrested you under a penalty enforcement warrant).
You can apply for revocation of the enforcement order by completing the
application form that is provided by the Infringements Court.
Sheriff's
Warrant issued
If
the enforcement order remains unpaid,
the agency that issued the fine will
cause the Infringements Court to issue
a warrant to recover the debt. The
warrant directs the Sheriff to seize
and sell the person's property to raise
sufficient money to pay the debt, or
alternatively to arrest the person and
detain the person for so many days as
is required to expedite the penalty at
the rate of one day of imprisonment for
each $125.00 of debt.
Warrant
Executed
When
the sheriff knocks on the person's door
to execute the warrant the sheriff will
give the person 7 days to pay the debt
before carting away his/her property,
or if there is insufficient property
before arresting the person. Property
seized by the sheriff is eventually
sold by public auction if the debtor
continues to fail to pay the debt. Jail
is always a last resort, and the person
is usually assessed to see if they are
suitable to perform community work
instead of going to prison. When the
sheriff seizes a person's property, the
sheriff normally places a sticker on
the property claiming legal or
"walking" possession of the property.
The sheriff leaves the property in the
physical possession of the debtor for 7
days or so as to allow the debtor a
chance to pay the debt or come to some
arrangement. The debtor is not allowed
to deal with the property in any way
that is inconsistent with the right of
the sheriff to remove the property and
sell it. After a person is arrested
they are taken to court where a
Magistrate will sentence the person to
a term of imprisonment at a rate of
approximately one day per $120.00 of
debt unless circumstances allow
community work to be done in place of
imprisonment. The court will not order
community work when the total debt is
over $10,000. If community work is not
allowed, imprisonment will very likely
be the result unless a defendant
satisfies the court that the reason for
the default in payment is that he or
she was financially incapable of paying
the fines.
The
User Experience
When
a person ignores many enforcement
orders over a long period of time, the
day the sheriff eventually catches up
with them the debt can be tens of
thousands of dollars, and the number of
weeks or months in prison to 'pay' off
the debt can be frightening. It is the
sheriff's warrant that is empowering
the sheriff to seize property or make
an arrest, and this warrant is founded
on the enforcement order. The
enforcement order can be revoked by the
Infringements Court at any time prior
to the warrant being executed (prior to
payment of money, seizure of goods or
arrest of a person). A person in this
position might be advised to seek
revocation of the enforcement orders
which if successful, will see the
warrants founded upon them
disappear.
If
the registrar grants the application for revocation, the enforcement
order is cancelled and the Infringement Court refers the matter back to
the agency that issued the fine, and they will have to take steps to
prosecute the person in court by serving a charge and summons. However,
the registrar of the Infringements Court is unaccustomed to granting
applications for revocation of an enforcement order. You are likely to
receive a letter telling you your application has been refused. You
then have a limited time to respond with a letter that appeals against
the registrar's refusal to revoke the enforcement order. The revocation
application is then referred to a Magistrate where it has a reasonably
good chance of succeeding. If your application is successful the
enforcement order is revoked. The infringement notice then becomes the
charge before the court. The person becomes a defendant and can plead
guilty or not guilty or nominate the driver etc. The matter proceeds in
the same manner as any other criminal case before the court. It is
possible to plead guilty and ask the court to impose an aggregate
penalty significantly less than what was sought to be enforced under
the sheriff's warrant. It is also possible to defend the charges
successfully.
In
my experience, close to half of the paperwork that my clients lodge at
the Infringements Court is either lost or ignored. Numerous
clients have hand delivered or posted applications for revocation and
never heard a response. Upon inquiring later, they are told that the
application either was not received or was dealt with 2 months ago and
refused. I recommend you should attend the Infringements Court in
person with two copies of every document you lodge there, and request
the Court to date stamp your file copy of the document so that you have
evidence of filing it with the court.
People
can save many thousands of dollars in
fines, and avoid significant jail terms
by addressing Infringement Court
problems in a strategic and informed
manner. It is possible to pay fines by
instalments, convert fines to
community work and in some cases avoid
suffering any penalty at all. Most of
the steps have time deadlines which
must be met. It is important to know
what the final goal is and exactly what
steps need to be taken and which path
to follow in order to get there.
Although
the Infringement Court is not an
ordinary court, it is still useful
to have a lawyer assist you if you wish
to defend or challenge proceedings at
the Infringement Court or when an
infringement is referred to open court.
Often people represent themselves, but
your chances improve greatly if you
have proper legal assistance. A lawyer
can take care of all the steps
involved, and importantly can advise
you how to take advantage of situations
if you fall through the gaps when the
system does not operate the way it was
designed. It would be wrong to assume
that everything that happens within the
Infringement system has been done
properly. It is not uncommon,
especially given the huge volume of
infringements that get processed each
day, for enforcement agencies and Civic
Compliance to "overlook" the rights of
the people they are supposed to serve.
The Infringement Court system is
designed with quantity in mind, not
quality.
Contacting
the Infringements
Court
Infringments Court
Level 1, 444 Swanston Street,
Carlton, Vic. 3053.
P.O. Box 14487, Melbourne City Mail
Centre, Melbourne 8001.
DX: 210231 Melbourne.
Telephone: (03) 9094 2000. Fax: 9094
2020.
-
Civic Compliance
Victoria
- Address: Level 1, 277 William
Street, Melbourne
- GPO Box 1916
Melbourne VIC 3001
- Penalty Notice enquiries: (03)
9200 8111
- Country callers (free call) 1800
150 410
Sheriff's Office Enquiries: (03)
9200 8222
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