Appeals from Traffic Court in the Bay Area

For traffic tickets issued in the Bay Area, a “traffic appeal” is when a person loses a case in a trial court and asks a higher court to review the lower court’s decision. Most appeals occur after a person is found guilty of a traffic offense in traffic court. The higher court that decides whether the judge in the lower court erred is called the “appellate court.”

In deciding the appeal, the appellate court will look primarily at two issues:

• Whether the court made a legal mistake, and
• Whether this mistake affected the final decision in the case

The appeal is not a new trial with new witnesses or new evidence. Also, the appeal is not chance to go to court and present your case all over again in front of a different judge. For appeals from traffic court in San Francisco, CA, the appellate court only reviews what happened in the trial court to decide if a legal mistake was made in the original trial. For example, one issue decided in an appeal is whether the trial court judge applied the wrong law to the facts of the case. The appellate court will also consider whether sufficient evidence supported the guilty verdict.

The appellate court will reverse the trial court’s decision if it finds a legal mistake in the trial court proceedings that was so important that it changed at least part of the outcome of the case. Filing an appeal does not postpone the deadline for you to pay your fine or complete any part of your sentence. To postpone your sentence, you must ask the trial court for a “stay” of the judgment pending the decision in the appeal.

Additional Resources:

Appeal Procedures for Infractions (Form CR-141-INFO) — Find information on appealing traffic infraction cases in the State of California. Form CR-141-INFO contains detailed information and step-by-step instructions on appealing traffic infraction cases.

Appeals from San Francisco’s Traffic Court — Visit the website of the Superior Court in San Francisco to learn more about filing an appeal if you disagree with the Court’s ruling after a trial on a traffic citation within 30 days of the ruling. Appeals are filed in Room 101 at the Hall of Justice.