Posted on 09/01/2009 1:27:53 PM PDT by OneVike
I need some advice about a legal matter that has visited me from the past. I just went down to renew my drivers license in California, and when I talked to the DMV clerk she told me I needed to call Alabama because they put a hold on authorizing my renewal. The clerk gave me a phone number to call, and a half hour later I was in touch with the Alabama DMV.
First you need to know that I have been a California registered resident since 1988, and never had trouble renewing my drivers license.
Now, when I contacted the Alabama DMV, I was told that my Alabama drivers license was suspended in 1985 for failure to pay a fine for no proof of insurance that came about from a fender bender I was in. Now that the states are all connected via computers California is not going to renew my license until I clear up the problem in Alabama.
Three problems I have that I need advice for, and free advice I am looking for because I do not have the money for a lawyer.
A.) I never had an Alabama drivers license, although I did work in Phoenix City Alabama in 1985. However I lived across the river in Columbus Ga, and had a Georgia drivers license at the time.
B.) I was never in a fender bender with anyone.
C.)I was never issued a ticket for which I would have had to give my signature for, before the police officer would ever let me leave.
D.)I did own a vehicle at the time, but I never registered it and only owned it for about three months and then sold it. So even if I was in a fender bender, I would have also received a ticket for driving a vehicle that was not registered.
I called my Allstate insurance agent and they told me that if I had had a suspended drivers license when I became a customer of theirs in 1990, their background check on me would have revealed I had a suspended drivers license, because they do a 50 state search on all drivers they insure.
Ok, now for my question, how on God's green earth does Alabama have the power to deny my right of drivers license renewal in California with out proper proof of the case against me.
Hmmmmm....
if your story is true, this is an administrative mix-up that could take a loooong time to clear up. good luck.
Trying to play devil’s advocate for the whole screwed up situation.
I’m not a lawyer - I don’t even play one on the internet, but from personal experience I might guess that this is one of those stupid “same name” scenarios. Good luck - hope you can get it resolved quick and cheap.
What you explained seems simple enough. Assuming you have already attempted to work this through with CA MV — up to the state capital level of that bureau, well then go to your local State Representative and ask them for help, and if they refuse hire a lawyer.
One other thought that occurred to me. You should be able to make the state of Alabama send you copies of all the information they have regarding this situation. That may give you enough information to start towards a resolution.
I had what I thought was a fairly unusual name but some debt collectors called me to try and collect a debt I didn’t owe. Since I didn’t have any debt at all they had to take another run at someone else who shares my name. Interesting...........
Likely, when you sold your car that you only owned for 3 months the other owner did not register it and drove it while it was in your name. He probably got a ticket and never showed up for court. Perhaps he never got the notice because the car was after all in your name or perhaps when the notice came it had your name on it and he decided he could get out of it.
In the future always go to the courthouse with the person you sell your car to and get it in his name.
There are a lot of other possible situations that could bring this back on your head.
There is a way out. Get a lawyer and explain what has happened, get a Judge from the court level above where your notice was issued from, sign an affidavit outlining your story and that you never had a license or accident in the state as alleged by your own state. If the judge signs an order for you to have the record cleared it will be done and you won't have to to fool with it again.
I've been down this road with an ex-wife.
Good Luck.
That car you had and never registered....what happened to it? My guess is the title is still in your name but you don’t have the car and someone (the one who got it in 1985) used your information......
when you sold your car did you take the plates off it?
Two years ago I got a notice from another state that I owed back child support and my wages would be garnished. Luckily I got a reasonable person to work with and it was all straightened out. One thing to remember to do if you do get it worked out is to request that AL send you a letter spelling out the mistake and that they have corrected it, and you have no liabilities left.
Oddly enough, having an “unusual” name is almost worse, because it makes it easy for anyone handling the situation to *assume* that you *must* be the right one. If your name was “John Smith” they would have to try to find the right one, but an unusual name makes them lazy (sometimes).
Attention everyone. Many inaccuracies exist in databases for several reasons:
GIGO - Garbage in, Garbage out.
Bad Algorithms - Matching software tries to determine if person A1 and person A2 are the same person. About Half the time they can’t determine the answer one way or the other.
About Half the time they can determine “definitely yes” or “definitely no”.
But it is a judgment call as to how many matching criteria are used to determine “yes” or “no”.
The result is a high percentage of factual errors in databases. The credit bureaus are a good example. Equifax seems to have a higher rate of factual errors than the other 2 big credit bureaus. That probably means their matching algorithm is looser in its matching requirements. For example, a customer of Equifax can purchase a list of millions of names to do a telemarketing campaign and discover the list is nearly useless because so many phone numbers have been incorrectly matched.
Just because you read it on the internet doesn’t make it so. Just because it exists in somebody’s database doesn’t make it so.
Just wait til we have the healthcare database and get these mis-matches. Men with hystorectomies because their name is Sue, etc.
I would say Alabama has lost because of the statute of limitations.
I don't have personal knowledge but I'd think that a person with bad debt would also have other complaints attached to their name. Look it up first.
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