I am a Michigan resident trying to renew my drivers license. I was in an accident in 1988 in VA. I was rear ended and pushed into a car a head of me. Minimal damage and I was not issued a ticket. It was a friends car, and I didn't have his insurance information with me.Flash forward 21 years, when I went to renew my Michigan drivers license, the MI Secretary of State (DMV) said to contact VA DMV, who in turn said to contact a law firm in VA. Long story short, the law firm got a judgment for $628 in March of 91, and now they want $1,000 more in interest. I was never served any papers in person. They sent it to some address I was never at. I've always had a Michigan license, and would think they should have sent any paperwork to that address. The case was in district court, and according to VA law, if not docketed and extended, falls off after 10 years (which I don't believe it ever was). But VA DMV policy is 20 years. I have wrote to the Commissioner of the VA DMV stating my case, telling him that the DMV is putting their policy above the VA law. He say's that's their policy and that's final. I have a case number, but the people at the court say they have no record, and that I probably cannot vacate a judgment on a case that doesn't exist anymore. I've talk to at least a dozen attorneys, and no one has been able to give me any advice. Can I have the judgment vacated? Can I have the court force the DMV to remove the hold on my license citing VA law regarding enforcement periods on judgments? Also, the VA DMV wants me to apply for SR22 insurance if I pay the judgment. I want to get my commercial drivers license, and don't want to have an issue with insurance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Get a letter from the court stating that there is no active record of the judgement. Most judgements can be automatically renewed after the initial term, which is what the VA DMV did. Once you have a letter from the court that the judgement is no longer active, you send a letter to the DMV stating that since the court says the case is no longer active, they have no right to deny you a license renewal. If they continue to do so you will take actions since they are preventing you from earning a livelihood.

In the meantime, send a copy of the letter to the MI DMV and state that since there is no record of an active case, the VA DMV has no right to place a hold on your renewal and that they should ignore that hold and proceed to renew.

I did try to get the courts to give me a letter stating that there was no record of any judgment. I'm not a lawyer, so I wasn't sure which court was handling this, District, Circuit, Civil, Small Claims, or traffic. Each department, except District said they couldn't give me a letter saying that there was no case, or if there was, it was expired. The District court did give me a letter stating that this case no longer existed, and pursuant to VA code that such records are destroyed after at the expiration of the retention period, (10 years), unless it was appealed to the Circuit court, docketed and extended another 10 years by the plaintiff... not the DMV as you stated. Which I believe was never done. I was told that the case number looked as if it was a District court judgment. I passed a copy of this letter along to the DMV commissioner, and he said it didn't matter. Virginia DMV policy is 20 years... period. But I will try using the letter at the Michigan Secretary of State/DMV. Unfortunately, it's from the District court, and I'd probably need one from the Circuit court as well. I'm not sure if I have a case against the DMV or not. A drivers license is a privilege, not a right. But it sure is making life difficult not having one. I was told the best way to go about this was to vacate the judgment based on not being properly served... not because it's expired. The VA DMV in all their wisdom probably wouldn't release the lien on my license if it was vacated due to expiration. I think the issue here is, can I motion the court to vacate a judgment, that in their eyes doesn't exist anymore?

If there is no record of a judgment then there is nothing to vacate.

There's no record with the courts because they destroy the records after 10 years, but the law office that's holding the judgment has a case number from 1991, which by VA law they cannot enforce... but, because the VA DMV's policy is to hold a judgment for 20 years... I can not renew my license. Don't feel bad... I've talked to over a dozen attorneys in VA and they can't figure it out either. Basically, the VA DMV is imposing their policy over VA law, but again, because a drivers license is a privilege and not a right, I may not have a leg to stand on... Talk about a cluster . By the time I get this figured out, the 20 years will have passed. Thanks for your time and effort.

Good luck. Keep us posted as to what happens.

I've had my own run-ins with VA. Over 25 years ago, I lost part of my NYS license (this was before photo ID licenses). I reported this to NYS DMV and got a replacement. They told that was all I needed. In the meantime the guy who found the part I lost (which was a record of convictions not the actual license) used it as ID when he was stopped for speeding in NJ and VA. I didn't know this until I received Failure to Appear notices from both states. When I called VA about it I was told that the police officer recorded the race of the driver as Black and since I'm not, I could prove it wasn't me. VA didn't care. Unless I showed up as a hearing they would enter a guilty plea. As far as I know my license is suspended in VA. Fortunately they haven't tried to prevent renewal in NY since I was just able to renew it a couple of months ago.

You don't have to worry. If it was over 20 years ago it's off their records. A few years ago all states went to the NDR, National Driving Register, which all states comply with now. If you have any tickets in any other states, then you have to pay them before renewing your license in your home state. Again, 20 years seems to be the limit, some states are sooner.