DMV Court Codes for LA County Traffic Tickets
Guest post by Mark Gallagher
Mark Gallagher is a colleague who practices law in LA County, CA. Andrew only handles cases in the state of Virginia.
For some reason DMV court codes are one of the more closely guarded secrets in the California traffic court system. Many DMV employees and traffic court clerks treat the handbook as some sort of holy grail that can not be shared with the public eye. For some reason these government employees are trained to believe that if the public had access to this information, complete anarchy would erupt.
So when you are trying to track down an old traffic ticket to fix a suspended drivers license, you end up playing this giant game of hide and go seek. The first step is finding out which ticket or tickets are actually causing the problem. This step can involve hours of your time wasted on the internet or trying to get the traffic court clerk to answer the tele (LA traffic courts don’t answer the , it’s just an automated system for credit card payments). Or maybe you had the pleasure of spending hours in line at the DMV or waiting on hold with the DMV. At some point you end up with a DMV printout or a scribbled note on the back of your hand with a citation number and a series of numbers known as the DMV court code. What is a DMV court code? It’s just a series of numbers that the California DMV and California court system use to track the location where your license problem originated. So if someone has placed a hold or suspension on your drivers license due to your failure to appear on a traffic ticket, we can use the DMV court code to figure where the ticket came from, go there, and fix it.
Why doesn’t the DMV just tell you the name of the courthouse?
Why doesn’t the DMV just list the courthouses by name or address instead of using the mystery DMV court codes? Why doesn’t the DMV publish the list of DMV court codes on their website or elsewhere to make this easy? Well those are both very good questions, but I have no answers. What I can tell you is that after 13 years of practicing traffic law in Southern California, I have now assembled my own cheat sheet. So if you have a DMV court code printout or some clerk somewhere gave you a DMV court code after you were in line or on hold for 3 hours, maybe this will help. I have been reading DMV printouts daily for the last decade or so and I am pretty good at translating them into English for my clients. I’m not fluent, but I speak a little DMV. To use my cheatsheet, simply match the DMV court code below to find the name of the courthouse and address where your problem originated.
Note that several courts use more than one DMV court code for the same location and the DMV court codes have changed several times over the years. Some of the codes on this list may have changed again, and some of these codes may be incorrect. This is the list I have assembled and I find it helpful, but if you try to use it and it doesn’t magically solve your traffic ticket problems please don’t sue me. By using this list you assume the risk of driving all over Los Angeles, fighting traffic, paying for parking, and standing in long lines only to be rudely informed that the DMV court code has changed, the courthouse has been closed due to budget shortfalls, or they only accept traffic matters on the third Thursday of the month. (or at least that what usually happens to me) If you really get stuck and want to have it fixed by a professional, give me a call at 800-797-8406, or email me at attorneygallagher@gmail.com
My Best Effort at Cracking the DMV Court Codes for LA County
19100-Los Angeles Traffic Court (Hill Street) 111 N Hills Street, Room 105E, Los Angeles, CA
19110-Pomona Traffic Court (Criminal Clerk) 400 Civic Center Plaza Room #101 Pomona, CA
19111-Glendale Traffic Court 600 E Broadway Rm 273 Glendale, CA
19112-Burbank Traffic Court 300 E Olive Ave, Room 225 Burbank, CA
19120-Lancaster Traffic Court 42011 4th Street, West, Lancaster, CA
(Super secret extra code for Lancaster Traffic Court 19413)
19121-San Fernando Traffic Court (Third Street) 900 Third Street San Fernando, CA
(Super secret extra code for San Fernando Traffic Court 19496)
19130-Pasadena Traffic Court 300 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA
19140-Van Nuys Traffic Court (Sylmar Avenue) 6230 Sylmar Avenue, Van Nuys, CA
(This is NOT the standard Van Nuys traffic clerk, see 19498 below)
19150-Long Beach Traffic Court (Criminal Clerk) 415 W Ocean Blvd #401, Long Beach, CA
19160-Compton Traffic Court (Criminal clerk? Collections?) 200 West Compton Blvd #902, Compton, CA
19170-Norwalk Traffic Court 12720 Norwalk Blvd #101, Norwalk, CA
19180-Torrance Traffic Court 825 Maple Avenue Rm 100, Torrance, CA
(Torrance Traffic Court criminal clerk? Secret code 19486)
(Old code For Torrance Traffic Court 19487)
19190-Santa Monica Traffic Court (Room 101) 1725 Main Street, Rm 101, Santa Monica, CA
(Old code For Santa Monica Traffic Court 19437)
19200-Los Angeles Traffic Court (Metro juvenile) 1945 S. Hill Street, Room 808, Los Angeles, CA
19210-Los Angeles Traffic Court (Eastlake juvenile) 1601 Eastlake Ave, Rm J, Los Angeles, CA
19405-Los Angeles Traffic Court (Airport court) 11701 La Cienaga Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
19410-Alhambra Traffic Court 150 W Commonwealth Ave, Alhambra, CA
(Alhambra Traffic Court super secret extra code 19482)
19420 Beverly Hills Traffic Court 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, CA
19425 Burbank Traffic Court P.O. Box 750 Burbank, CA
19430-West Covina Traffic Court 1427 West Covina Parkway, West Covina, CA
19432 Chatsworth Traffic Court 9425 Penfield Way, Chatsworth, CA
19435 Compton Traffic Court 200 West Compton Blvd, Compton, CA
19440 Downey Traffic Court 7500 East Imperial Highway, Downey, CA
19443 East Los Angeles Traffic Court 214 S. Fetterly Ave, Los Angeles, CA
19446 El Monte Traffic Court 11234 E. Valley Blvd #100, El Monte, CA
19450 Glendale Traffic Court 600 East Broadway, Glendale, CA
19455 Inglewood Traffic Court One Regent Street, Inglewood, CA
19460 Long Beach Traffic Court (Traffic clerk) 415 W Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA
19462 Los Angeles Traffic Court (Grand) 110 N Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
19463 Los Angeles Traffic Court (Metro) (Ground Zero for LA Traffic Tickets)
1945 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA
19466 Bellflower Traffic Court 10025 East Flower Street, Bellflower, CA
19468 Santa Clarita Traffic Court 23747 W Valencia Blvd, Santa Clarita, CA
19470 Pasadena Traffic Court 300 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA
19472 Malibu Traffic Court 23525 Civic Center Drive, Malibu, CA
(Old codes For Malibu Traffic Court 19473, 19650, 19651)
19475 Pomona Traffic Court (Traffic Clerk-Muni building) 350 W Mission Blvd, Pomona, CA
19480 Huntington Park Traffic Court 6548 Miles Avenue, Huntington Park, CA
(Old code For Huntington Park Traffic Court 19488)
19484 Santa Monica Traffic Court (Room 214) 1725 Main Street, Rm 214, Santa Monica, CA
19490 Whittier Traffic Court 7339 S Painter Ave, Whittier, CA
19495 Hollywood Traffic Court 5925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA
19497 San Pedro Traffic Court 505 South Centre Street, San Pedro, CA
19498 Van Nuys Traffic Court (Erwin Street Mall) 14400 Erwin Street Mall, 2nd floor, Van Nuys, CA
19499 Los Angeles Traffic Court (West LA) 1633 Purdue Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
19610 Catalina Traffic Court (Avalon) 215 Sumner Ave, Los Angeles, CA