When you have come to court and at the end of your hearing, the judge says, "case dismissed," the matter may be settled and it may not. You need to read your court order to see whether the case was dismissed with prejudice or dismissed without prejudice. It may be shortened to DWP or DWOP. You don't want DWOP.

When you went to court, your objective is to come out scot free. Many cases simply require you to present evidence that the action required to cure the cause of the State's action has been cured, such as showing you had insurance or getting your safety inspection sticker within 10 days. Some other cases will require more work on your part.

This is a dismissal in operation of law. These dismissals are prescribed in the statutes and codes, for instance the Transportation Code. To see if you would qualify for such a dismissal. If such a dismissal is part of that code, it will tell you exactly what you need to do and in what time frame to get that dismissal.

Sometimes you can get a dismissal if you successfully challenge the jurisdiction of the court in the matter. For instance, if a municipal police officer pulls you over on the Interstate, he may or may not have the jurisdiction to operate on that highway. You may have been pulled over by a state trooper in town on a matter outside his jurisdiction. Read your ticket and see if the date and time and other information is correct. If it is not, you have a legal challenge. If the officer got the information wrong and you can support that allegation in court, the ticket is invalid - case dismissed.

I mentioned DWP and DWOP. If a case is Dismissed With Prejudice, it means the matter cannot be brought up again. It cannot be refiled against you with the same facts, date, incident, etc. It does not mean prejudice in the normal sense. In legal terms, you LIKE prejudice. Dismissed WITHOUT Prejudice means the case can be brought again. This is usually the ruling if there is a minor error in the paperwork bringing the action that can be cured and the matter refiled. Either way, if you can get the court to rule for a DWP, you are much better off.

The bottom line is this - if the case is dismissed as an operation of law or dismissed with prejudice, it is over and will not go on your record. If it is DWOP, the matter may rise again. There is much more to know about law and much of it is in the statutes, constitutions and codes. You need to know where to look and how to understand what you read. Legalese is a different language. I do wish you well.