Judges: JOHN CORNYN, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 12/15/2000
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Office of the Attorney General — State of Texas John Cornyn The Honorable Senfronia Thompson Chair, Committee on Judicial Affairs Texas House of Representatives P.O. Box 2910 Austin, Texas 78768-2910
Re: Whether the addition of certain protest words to a traffic citation constitutes a valid promise to appear in court (RQ-0270-JC)
Dear Representative Thompson:
In 1999, this office opined on certain general principles of contract law with respect to the potential effect of certain protest words written under a signature on an Internal Revenue Service form. See Tex. Att'y Gen. Op. No.
While it matters for the purpose of contract law whether or not two parties have agreed to be bound to certain conditions in a bargain, it is of no consequence whether any individual agrees to be bound by the traffic regulations or penal laws of the State of Texas. So long as such a person is in Texas, he or she is bound by those laws. See United Statesv. Masat,
The statutes in question here are to be found in subchapter A, chapter 543 of the Transportation Code. Pursuant to section 543.001, a peace officer may arrest without warrant a person found committing any of a variety of traffic violations.3 See Tex. Transp. Code Ann. §
The import of this statutory scheme is clear. When a policeman stops a driver for a moving violation, he writes a ticket. The driver signs the ticket, thereby promising to appear in court. If the driver does not sign the ticket, he is not released. If the driver signs the ticket and does not appear in court, he is subject to arrest.
Your constituent, however, appears to believe that he may escape the consequences of chapter 543 of the Transportation Code. He has asked you:
By placing these words after one's signature, "forced to sign under threat, duress and coercion," when no "meeting of the minds has occurred," and the ticketed party . . . has no intentions of making a court appearance, is the signatory relieved of his promise to appear in court if no adhesion contract exists?4
Your constituent has noted the conclusion of Attorney General Opinion
We note, as a preliminary matter, that even were we to accept the notion that a traffic stop is a bargaining session in which the writing of a ticket is an offer and the signing of the ticket an acceptance, the principles of contract law would not provide your constituent with the relief he seeks. It is hornbook law that "[a] person will not be permitted to accept the beneficial part of a transaction and repudiate the disadvantageous part. In other words, one who retains benefits under a transaction cannot avoid its obligations, and is estopped to take a position inconsistent therewith. Similarly, one cannot accept and reject the same instrument, or, having availed himself of the benefits conveyed by a part of an instrument, reject its other provisions." 34 Tex. Jur.3dEstoppel § 13 (1984). Transparently, a motorist who signs a ticket and drives away rather than spending the night in police custody has availed himself of what a reasonable person would regard as a very substantial benefit. He cannot then be heard to say that he has no intention to appear in court.
The traffic laws of this state are, however, no more a matter of contract than are its penal laws. They govern all those within the jurisdiction of Texas; they cannot be evaded at whim by a verbal formula. Your correspondent's apparent notion that his relation to our laws is purely contractual, and as such may be unilaterally abrogated by him, has no basis in law. See Coyle v. State,
Having signed a traffic ticket, one is obliged to appear in court. Wilful failure to so appear is a misdemeanor. See Tex. Transp. Code Ann. §
Yours very truly,
JOHN CORNYN Attorney General of Texas
ANDY TAYLOR First Assistant Attorney General
CLARK KENT ERVIN Deputy Attorney General — General Counsel
SUSAN D. GUSKY Chair, Opinion Committee
James E. Tourtelott Assistant Attorney General — Opinion Committee