> If you have a receipt from the court showing that the fine was settled, how can they be saying they never got the money?

Because they're the ones with the power to give your license back, so you either do what they say or spend the next year without a license trying to work out what went wrong. They're the court - nothing happens to them when they screw up.

yep. Lawyer informed yesterday these types of cases are low priority and will often be continued for months. So each time I had a court date I would be traveling 6ish hours round trip only to have it continued. Since I have a job and am generally not able to travel for 6 hours during the week I will be paying a lawyer to deal with this mistake.

Ha I kid you not I didn't believe it would pass the smell test either.

However I got a $285 ticket proving it yesterday. Courts aren't open on the weekends so my lawyer will be figuring it out tomorrow.

I will be in the DMV first thing in the morning to try to get a new license so I can travel home (went to parents house for Holiday). I have to pay a $65 reinstatement fee tomorrow to get a new license as well.

If you're in the Raleigh area as your name suggests, I'd advise you to be there 30+ minutes before they open. Our DMVs are a nightmare right now thanks to Real ID. I had go back in September - got my number at 1:45 PM and was the last person called before the office closed at 5 PM.

>If you have a receipt from the court showing that the fine was settled, how can they be saying they never got the money?

I assume the payment did not triggered the right things to mark the fine as payed, or someone made a mistake a number somewhere and something failed. You should always keep your receipt for a while or forever (keep energy/phone bills for a few months)

I received a notice about not paying a ticket, 6+ years after I had paid for it. Lucky for me, I still had the paper receipt and so I went into the SF courthouse to show proof of payment. After reviewing it, the clerk told me that it looked like their IT modernization had erroneously marked my case as being unpaid. I can't imagine how very painful the resolution process would have been if I had not kept that receipt.

This is why I laugh at the “convenience” of a paperless world. Still might not help but at least a paper receipt is something.

Yep. That is most likely what happened. Really put a dent in plans but thankfully I can uber!

What about this doesn't pass the smell test?

People aren't going to trust a receipt over the system they use. It's as simple as someone checking their computer seeing that OP never paid and then forwarding it to the right place. It's not like the cop has the power to override the system because that would be nightmare in terms of accountability and potential abuse.

Yea, it sucks and it's unfair, but there's nothing unbelievable about it. For any set of rules, there are always going to be people that fall through the cracks.

yep. Oh well. Hopefully I can get a new license tomorrow and drive home and go to work. Hopefully I am one of the few who have this problem.