Fined for speeding 10 years after the fact? N. Aurora man gets his money back

North Aurora resident Dan Laird fought the law and won a small victory Friday.

In just a few hours, he had apologies in hand from an associate judge and the DuPage County Circuit Clerk's office, a 2004 judgment of speeding in a school zone vacated from his record, and a promise that a check for $102.50 was on its way to him.

"It was a good day and everything worked out in my favor," Laird said. "But it should have never come to this."

The case started more than 10 years ago, in August 2004, when Laird was stopped by Wheaton police on Main Street near Franklin Middle School and ticketed for driving 31 mph in a 20 mph school zone.

He promptly paid the $75 fine and says he "moved on."

It all seemed far behind him until several weeks ago when Laird attempted to renew his driver's license and was told he couldn't because he had a "failure to pay" notation on his account.

That's because county officials said Laird never should have been allowed to pay the initial $75 fine in 2004 because speeding in a school zone is an offense that requires a court date.

But the mistake wasn't caught until an audit in 2012. And when the clerk's office sent Laird a letter informing him of the mistake and his need to appear in court, he never received it because he had moved four years earlier.

To Laird's surprise, a conviction was entered against his license and he racked up $102 in additional fines that he had to pay before he could renew his license last month.

The Daily Herald brought Laird's story to the attention of the circuit clerk's office on March 26 and officials there quickly took responsibility for the mix-up.

On Friday morning, Associate Judge Anne T. Hayes vacated the 2004 ticket and instead convicted Laird of speeding, an offense that carries a $75 fine.

"A lot of things went wrong here, so my apologies," Hayes said. "The clerk accepted your payment, but you were supposed to appear. Then nothing happened between 2004 and 2012."

With the judgment vacated, Dewey Hartman, chief deputy of the circuit clerk's office, promised to have a check for the outstanding $102.50 cut and sent to Laird by the end of the day.

"We're giving him everything back, except for the $75 he already paid. That will be applied to the amended judgment and it will all be a wash," Hartman said. "We're giving him the customer service treatment he deserved in 2004."

Laird said that's all he could ask for.

"When I started on this venture, I wasn't sure it would go anywhere," he said. "All I wanted was my money back, nothing more. So this ended about as good as I could have hoped."

The only catch is that the amended conviction for speeding comes with six months of court supervision.

"I'm not worried about that," Laird said. "I don't get tickets."