No Contest

I recently received an email from an acquaintance who is in training as a truck driver. He mentioned a close call he had as he was driving down a mountain highway. He also advised to never, if you're involved in an accident, openly apologize to someone else, because that opens you up for a lawsuit. I can tend to agree with that.

I was involved in a car accident in 2000. It had been raining and I was following the car ahead of me too closely and rear-ended them. I had received a ticket and had heard from Clark Howard, a nationally-syndicated consumer advocate, whose show is broadcast on AM radio in our area, that even paying the traffic ticket in that case could be considered an admission of guilt and open myself up to a lawsuit.

I sought advice from a lawyer, who recommended that I go to court and plead 'No Contest'. That way, if I was found guilty, I still wouldn't be openly admitting it. Other than having to take some time off work, God really blessed me. The judge wound up finding that I was guilty, but he let me off without having to pay a fine and even waived the court costs, provided that I never show up in his courtroom again. So all I got were some points against my driver's license. God even provided for us to be able to get financed for a slightly-used car.