united-states criminal-law insurance court attorney-fees
Was not given notice of court date, checked months later and had a bench warrant
<p>Several months ago (4-5)  I was involved in a major motorcycle accident in which I was rushed to the hospital. </p>

<p>I have since recovered, and just so happened to check my court records in which I discovered that I had a bench warrant.  I was apparently written up for not having insurance in this accident but was not notified in any way of this.  I did have insurance at this time and they paid me out for the accident.  What are my options in this case, and if I hire an attorney, would I be reimbursed for this?</p>

<p>This is in the United States and specific to the state of Hawaii.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>What are my options in this case, and if I hire an attorney, would I
  be reimbursed for this?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You should hire an attorney to negotiate a dismissal of the charges based upon the fact that you did have insurance.</p>

<p>If you had known about the charge and showed up in court on the appointed hearing date, you probably could have negotiated a resolution of this without a lawyer. But, even though your failure to appear was not your fault, at this point it is imprudent to try to do it yourself. There is too much of a risk that you will end up in jail for an extended period of time while the case is resolved if you do that.</p>

<p>You will not be reimbursed for your attorneys' fees. Once you are charged with a crime, your criminal defense expenses are your problem, economically, unless you are indigent, in which case, after you are arrested and arraigned you would have a public defender appointed for you. But, you don't want to be arrested and detained so that you can get a public defender if there is any possible way to avoid that outcome.</p>

<p>Insurance will normally not cover any form of criminal defense representation, even if you are in the clear, although AAA sometimes will post a small bond for you for certain traffic offenses if you are a AAA member.</p>
