Lohan had been staying in New York but took a late night from JFK airport to Los Angeles and landed around midnight. She had originally planned to skip the court appearance and obtained a doctor's note but a TMZ report apparently spoiled those plans.

They report: Lindsay had no intention of showing up in her lying-to-cops case and got a doctor's note which was filed with the court, saying she couldn't fly because she had an upper respiratory infection.

But then we posted pictures of Lindsay shopping and smoking in SoHo the very day she got the doctor's note.

We're told Lindsay went into a panic after we posted our story Tuesday and started calling everyone to find out if we were right ... that the judge would probably issue a warrant for her arrest if she didn't show.