Settlement announced in lawsuit of revocation of licenses for not paying traffic court debts

ROCKY MOUNT, NC (WWAY) – Over the next 60 days the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV) will be contacting by mail and email more than 185,000 drivers whose licenses were revoked for their failure to pay fines, penalties, and court costs.

Those drivers will be informed in a special notice about their ability under North Carolina General Statute 20-24.1 to have the NCDMV lift those revocations if the sentencing court finds their failure to pay was not willful and was instead due to their inability to afford the amount due.

A driver may make this showing of inability to pay by filing with the sentencing court a motion for relief from fines and fees. The NC Administrative Office of the Courts has created a template motion that can be used for this purpose: Form AOC-CR-415.

For a six-month period following the announcement of the settlement, the NCDMV will mail a copy of this template motion to drivers upon request.

The NCDMV has also revised the official notice it will send to drivers who will face future license revocations for failure to pay court debt.

Individuals with questions about the settlement or their options for lifting existing driver’s license revocation orders or preventing a pending revocation order from becoming effective, may contact www.resolvetrafficdebtNC.org.