Here are the numbers. Then here's how to check what you're actually paying.
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The Answer
A driver once called before his court date to make sure we were ready. We were. Then he asked how much his provider had paid us. I told him the fee for that courtroom. He had paid them double it. He said next time he would call us directly.
Same lawyer. Same courtroom. Twice the price. Which is why the fee is published here — so a driver can check it before he needs it instead of finding out afterward.
Memphis City Court Divisions 1 and 2. Shelby County General Sessions Division 14 — Shelby County Sheriff, Tennessee Highway Patrol including the interstates, Lakeland, and Arlington.
Memphis City Court Division 3. Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown.
Fayette County and Tipton County.
Haywood County and Madison County.
These are attorney fees. Court costs and any fine are separate — Memphis City Court runs about $135, Shelby County Sheriff citations about $75, and Tennessee Highway Patrol citations about $130.
Which Number Applies
The price depends on where the case is, and where the case is depends on who stopped you. It is printed on the citation in your hand.
MPD citations go to Memphis City Court. If you were stopped coming off the bridge from West Memphis, this is almost certainly you. MPD is waiting there, and it is the single most common situation for drivers passing through.
THP and Sheriff citations, including stops out on the interstates, go to Shelby County General Sessions Division 14. Lakeland and Arlington citations go there as well.
Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown citations go to those cities' courts. Outside Shelby County you may be in Fayette, Tipton, Haywood, or Madison County, and the fees are higher.
Why It Costs This
An ordinary speeding ticket has a range of outcomes that never involve a courtroom fight. A commercial driver does not have those outcomes.
Federal regulations prohibit masking convictions for commercial drivers. Masking is the general term for the arrangements that keep a conviction off a driving record — diversion, deferral, dismissal in exchange for court costs. None of that is available on your citation, and it does not matter which state issued your license.
What that leaves is a choice between a conviction and a trial. In Memphis City Court and in Shelby County General Sessions, a CDL citation you are actually fighting gets tried.
That is the work the fee reflects. It is also why representation is harder to find than drivers expect. Plenty of attorneys handle traffic citations. It is rare to see one handling more than one CDL trial a week, because trying cases is a great deal more work than resolving them.
Your Time
The settings before trial are handled without you. The trial is not — the driver has to be present for it.
That means one trip back to Memphis, on a date you will know far enough ahead to plan a load around. Anyone who tells you a contested CDL citation can be handled without you ever returning is telling you what you want to hear.
If You Carry a Plan
A lot of drivers coming through Memphis carry a membership plan for exactly this. TVC Pro-Driver, the Open Road Drivers Plan, Drivers Legal Plan, U.S. Legal Services CDL Defender, and LegalShield's commercial driver plan are the common ones.
Whether yours is worth carrying is arithmetic, and it is arithmetic you can do without anyone's help. The number on this page is fixed and published. The other number is in your member agreement. Put them side by side.
This is worth doing before you need it rather than after. The driver who found out he had paid double was not careless. He assumed the plan he was already paying for was the cheaper path, and nobody had given him a number to compare it against.
Coverage is not uniform across every court in every county, and Memphis City Court and Shelby County General Sessions are different courts with different fees.
This is the question drivers do not think to ask, and on a CDL citation in Shelby County it decides everything. Covering a court appearance is not the same as covering a trial. If the plan will fund a plea but not a trial, the plea is a conviction on your record.
Get a number, not a category. Then compare it to the published fee above for the court you are actually in. Plans also commonly charge separately for citations that existed before you enrolled, so ask about that too if your ticket predates your membership.
Your Attorney
Mitchell Wood · Criminal Defense & Traffic Tickets
Attorney Mitchell Wood handles CDL citations in Memphis City Court, Shelby County General Sessions, and the surrounding municipal and county courts. He has been practicing since 2012. The volume of CDL work at BBJW LAW is what makes trying these cases practical — it is routine here in a way it is not most places.
More on CDL tickets in Tennessee → · Traffic tickets → · Suspended license →
What to Do Now
Call (901) 578-1515 with the citation in front of you. The issuing agency and the court date determine everything else, including which number above applies to you.
Payment is due in full before the court date, and court dates are typically thirty or more days out. Payment plans are available, and financing is available as well.
If your court date has already passed, call today. Missed dates can be addressed within thirty days of judgment at double the standard fee. After thirty days the judgment is final and cannot be undone — and for a commercial driver, final means a conviction on your record.
Common Questions
BBJW LAW charges $750 for CDL citations in Memphis City Court Divisions 1 and 2 and in Shelby County General Sessions Division 14. Memphis City Court Division 3, Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown are $1,000. Fayette and Tipton County are $2,500. Haywood and Madison County are $5,000. These are attorney fees only — court costs and any fine are separate.
It depends on which agency stopped you, and the agency is printed on your citation. Memphis Police Department citations go to Memphis City Court. Tennessee Highway Patrol and Shelby County Sheriff citations, including stops on the interstates, go to Shelby County General Sessions Division 14. Bartlett, Collierville, and Germantown police citations go to those municipal courts.
Because a CDL citation cannot be resolved the same way. Federal regulations prohibit masking convictions for commercial drivers, which removes diversion, deferral, and the other resolutions available to an ordinary motorist. In Shelby County that means a CDL citation you are fighting is tried. The fee reflects trying the case rather than working out a resolution.
For the settings before trial, no. For the trial itself, yes — the driver has to be present. Because CDL citations in Shelby County are resolved at trial rather than by plea, plan on one trip back. You will have the date far enough in advance to schedule a load around it.
That depends entirely on your plan's terms, which are in your member agreement rather than in the advertising. Ask your plan three questions: whether it covers the specific court your citation is in, whether it covers taking the case to trial rather than only entering a plea, and what your out-of-pocket cost will be. Then compare that number to the published fee for your court.
That is arithmetic, and every driver's arithmetic is different. Compare what you pay in annual premiums against the published attorney fee for the court your citations are likely to be in, and factor in what your plan charges out of pocket for a case it does not fully cover. Plans also commonly charge separately for tickets that existed before you enrolled.
No. The fee is the same whether a driver calls directly or a plan calls on his behalf. There is no network rate and no separate track. The published fee for the court is the fee.
Call immediately. Missed traffic court dates can be addressed within 30 days of judgment at double the standard fee for that court. After 30 days the judgment is final and cannot be undone, and for a commercial driver a final judgment means a conviction on the CDL record.
Call for the fee in your court. It takes a minute and obligates you to nothing.