Minor Traffic Violation Delays Eligibility for Formal Administrative Hearing

Sorry for the delay in posting but John Callahan & Michael Norris had a busy few weeks with license reinstatement issues that they had not seen in quite some time. We received some orders from the Secretary of State granting the driving privilegesof several of our clients, both at the formal and informal hearing level.

An interesting issue popped up when we learned of a new issue in license reinstatement. What happens when you contact they Secretary of State for a formal hearing and they say you are eligible to get your license reinstated? You apply for a hearing, but then pick up a minor traffic ticket in another state where that state does not treat it as a crime (driving while license revoked – class A misdemeanor). Many attorneys would tell their client not to worry about minor movers. This is the wrong advice. License reinstatement attorney John W. Callahan recently came across an issue where after applying for a hearing the Secretary of State found a minor mover on the driving abstract. The Secretary of State then indicated that this minor mover would delay the eligibility of the prospective driver for 9 months.

At this point the prospective applicant has two choices: 1) Wait for the nine months while not driving; or 2) Vacate the out of state mover and submit a certified copy of the vacate order to the Secretary of State in Springfield. Springfield will then give you the green light for your hearing.

It is important to be very careful about pleading a client guilty to any even seemingly minor traffic tickets within and outside the State of Illinois as it can very much effect the eligibility date for your license in Illinois.