Santa Monica Courthouse

I went to traffic court on January 21st and my photo ticket was dismissed and the judge told me the fine of 492 dollars will be send to me. This part was good. But at the of February I went there and asked why I didn’t receive it yet. The office that was handling traffic ticket told me it tales 2 months. But the end of March
Came I didn’t receive it. I borrowed that money and I have to pay them back. Does anyone have the same
Situation as me. What should I do? Please help me to know what is going on?

Super rude and annoying clerk at small claims window. She drinks way too much coffee and starts ordering people in line like she is the schoolyard principal.
Her supervisor should ask her to keep bossy rude attitude at home and ease up with her caffeine intake.

Paid a ticket on a Tuesday morning. Took a grand total of fourteen minutes, including parking and using the restroom. There’s a window for traffic tickets outside the courthouse where you just walk up and exchange papers. Perfect for introverts.

Terrible efficiency at the civil clerk’s window, staff always walks out, they train their clerks while you have people in line waiting, bald clerk conversated on the phone while people waited then proceeded to pull down the curtain in his cashier window to finish his call, slow, slow, slow, etc. Nice staff, but sedentary work habits.

Unable to reach a live person, my ticket cannot be paid over the phone or on the la court website. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO! I call all-day still unable to reach anyone. THEY WONT ANSWER

Black female cashier at window 116 was very rude. Seemed like she didn't want to be there. It's a waste of taxpayers dollars to employ these type of people. Her supervisor should be fired as well for tolerating such attitude.

Really disappointed with the lack of a real appeals judge. I won a judgement in sm claims. He appeals and i go in front of a t r a f f i c court judge who knew nothing about the law for my case. Caution if your defendant appeals?

“What fresh Hell is this? ” It’s impossible to contact a live person or to get any kind of information. The division “phone number” posted on the website only provides a useless automated message that disconnects after the message is finished. You don’t even have the option of waiting and speaking to someone. There isn’t an e-mail address contact for any of the divisions on the Santa Monica Courthouse webpage. You aren’t going to get any information or help here! To call the Santa Monica Courthouse Kafkaesque would be an understatement.

They were very rude and rasict.
Judge kicked me out for lack of English being my first language

Apparently the ticket process has changed. But staff rudeness has not!

Now when you receive a ticket you can contest the ticket only AFTER sending a check with the bail, and the words "not guilty" on it. It was denounced to me (see attached picture) that the check I sent would be cashed BEFORE my trial/arraignment. I call to ask for an explanation and the woman that answered the phone was so incredibly rude that I came on here to quote her, "I wouldn't send a check if I didn't know what it was for", "did no one explain this to you", "well, I wouldn't send a check if I didn't know what it was for". She kept repeating the same phrases with such attitude in her voice; she was talking down to me. I still, trying to make amends, explain to her that on the letter I received (see photo), I was not given any other option. She proceeded to say, "well didn't any one explain it to you". I told her, "THAT'S WHY IM CALLING". After I said that, she literally says, "is there anything else I can help you with? "

It was the most pointless call, not only did she make me feel like an idiot, she did not explain the process to me/educate me. I am back to square one.

I've been here about 5 times for traffic court. If you get a traffic citation on the Westside of LA and you want to go to trial, this is usually where they send you. The only chance that you have of winning your case is if the police officer does not show up. If your ticketing officer shows up, you have 0% chance of winning. The judge Pamela will always side with the officers because that's how she gets paid, and she needs the money for her awful plastic surgery. The only good thing about this courthouse is that they let you talk to your officer before the trial, but it's really a way to get you to change your plea to guilty so that they can take your money faster. If you have a compassionate officer, he/she might get the court to reduce the fine and/or change it to a municipal code violation so it won't remove any points from your license.