The issue of private parking tickets is a heated one. Car owners believe that they cannot be cited if their vehicle is on private property. Unfortunately, this is not always correct and the main issue seems to be the misunderstanding of what is and is not considered private property. With a good understanding of this you will be able to determine if you can even fight the ticket.
A traffic ticket affects a little more than your wallet, it affects your insurance premiums as well. That alone pushes many drivers to pay their tickets even if they feel that they were not at fault. Just because you receive a ticket does not mean that you have no other options but to pay it. In fact you can choose to either mitigate the ticket or fight it. Mitigating the ticket is great for those drivers that committed a violation and that want to see if they can pay a reduced amount. However, if you were not at fault and feel that you have a solid case you can fight. If you choose to fight you will need to be confident that you can actually make a good argument to the judge.
If you are going to fight you are going to need to act fast. Waiting around or putting it off can result in you losing the right to contest the citation. Make your intentions to fight known through certified mail. Afterwards, you will be granted a hearing where you will expect to make your case that will, hopefully, result in the ticket being thrown out. You will need to convince the judge that the officer was in some way wrong. This will be a little more difficult in the case of tickets received on private property. This is because what many of us believe to be private property is still accessible to the police and vehicles can still be cited for violations. The most common types of tickets issued on private property are for tag violations and for those parked in spots that are off limits.
In cases such as these it would be extremely wise to hire a traffic lawyer. The hearing gets a bit more complex when it is just your word versus that of the police report. A lawyer can look for ways to have the ticket dismissed that you may have overlooked or not thought of. Disputing tickets on private properties can be done but it takes some effort.