Notifying DOSHS for a Failure to Appear

When a defendant fails to appear in court to answer or satisfy a traffic citation, the municipal court may notify the Department of Safety of the Failure to Appear (FTA). This can be done on a paper Court Action Report that you mail in or use the Department of Safety's Court Portal. (https://dl.safety.tn.gov/CourtPortal/_/ ).

Upon receipt of the FTA report, the Department of Safety will mail the defendant a letter notifying him or her of the FTA and inform the driver that his or her driving privileges will be suspended. This letter states that the driver has 30 days to satisfy the citation with the court (i.e. pay the entire citation amount) in order to avoid suspension. If the driver pays the entire citation, the court will report that satisfaction with the Department of Safety and the driver will not be suspended. This compliance and reporting of the same must be completed within 30 days of receipt of the letter from the Department of Safety.

The FTA statute and the letter also state if the defendant believes this FTA report is an error, the driver must contact the court to have the court submit a correction. Additionally, if the driver believes the FTA report was an error, the driver is entitled to to a hearing with the Department of Safety, but that hearing request must be made within thirty (30) days of the notification. See, T.C.A. § 55-50-502(a)(1)(I).

Cities may call or send a letter to the defendant before the citation is sent to the Department of Safety for suspension. The letter would serve as a reminder to the defendant, as well as providing for another opportunity for a hearing on the matter. This is not a requirement in the statute, but many cities find giving the defendant a reminder or another court date has a higher rate of defendants paying the entire citation because the defendant simply forgot about the court date and does not want to be suspended.

Whether or not to reset court dates, send letters, or call defendants is a city's choice based on the city's staff availability, resources, and rates of return in full compliance. If a city offers letters, phone calls, and reset court dates and it shows very little impact, the city may not want to do this and instead simply report the FTA to the Department of Safety.

The Department of Safety will not allow official correspondence to be forwarded to another address. Licensed drivers are required by law to notify the Department of Safety of any address change, and people who move without notifying the Department of the change of address will not receive the warning letter or the subsequent notification of suspension. The Department of Safety uses only the official address on the driver’s license, not any corrected address the violator may have given to the officer at the time the citation was issued.