Called the DOT in Des Moines. I currently have an OWI on record and a suspended license, so if I get pulled over I will get a ticket for that and my vehicle towed. So going the speed limit today for sure. Lady I talked to was very helpful and I'm just waiting for a call from a supervisor to get this straitened out. So nothing earth shattering to report yet.
Good luck with your efforts.
About 20 years ago, I was pulled over for speeding just north of Elburn, Illinois (lived there at the time) on a Friday night. The officer informed me that I was under arrest for driving on a suspended license. I repeatedly informed him that there had to be some mistake. He demanded that I exit my car, put me in cuffs and escorted me to the back of his squad car.
As he doing whatever paperwork he had to do, I sort of chuckled to myself about the situation. He turned around and asked me if "I thought my arrest was funny."
I told him "No. I don't think it's funny. I've concluded that this is not your fault but someone somewhere has made a mistake and when all is said and done, I'm going to have one hell of a wrongful arrest lawsuit."
He said something to the effect of "if I had a nickel for every time someone threatened a lawsuit . . ."
To which I responded "you are welcome to remove the wallet from my coat. In that wallet, you'll find some business cards for a law firm. The person's name on that business card happens to be the same name that is on my driver's license. Again, I'm not blaming you because it appears that you are simply looking at information that is on your computer. But I assure you . . . someone somewhere has made a mistake and when I figure out what happened, I'm going to have a phenomenal lawsuit."
The officer typed some more things into his laptop computer and looked back at me. I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said "I did nothing wrong." I told him that he was welcome to use my mobile phone to call my office number to confirm that my voice and message would be on the voice-mail. He took me up on the offer. We then had a pleasant and constructive conversation. He ended up writing me a ticket for driving on a suspended license, took my business card and told me that he guaranteed an arrest warrant would be issued if I didn't appear in court and "he knew where I could be found."
Called the Illinois DOT on the following Monday. As fate has it, I had been pulled over for speeding (OK . . . maybe I drive fast) about two years prior in Naperville and I did not have my insurance card with me at the time. Received a ticket for speeding and failing to produce proof of insurance. Had to go to court with my insurance card to prove insurance. Pled to speeding and they dropped the charge for lack of insurance.
However, the Clerk of Court in DuPage County transposed what I pled to. The records showed that I pled to "no insurance" and the speeding charge was dropped. But, because the records showed that I pled guilty to having no insurance, my driver's license was suspended until I produced proof of insurance to the State of Illinois.
Having no idea that my license was suspended, I drove for more than two years on a suspended license (OK . . . I don't drive
that fast).
Had to go to court to undo what happened and a judge had to enter new orders
nunc pro tunc (look it up). I then took those new orders to the Illinois DOT and unraveled the mess.
Took a fair amount of my time. A full morning in traffic court and a full afternoon dealing with the DOT in downtown Chicago. I also appeared in traffic court on the ticket that almost got me arrested. Told the judge the story, he shook his head and looked at his clerk and, with good humor, said "don't ever do that; see what might happen?" Charges dropped. The officer with whom I dealt on that fateful night was in court and went out of his way to shake my hand and apologize profusely. I told him again that I didn't blame him and that it turned out to be an honest, but unfortunate, mistake.
And, no, I didn't file a lawsuit against the clerk of court. Sometimes shit happens and sometimes it's simply better to move on (and slow down - ha!).
So . . . good luck with your endeavor. I hope that you get it resolved quickly and without too much hassle.
