st. paul

Cindy Nieman's son has been in South Korea for the past two years. So she was surprised this spring when she got a letter saying that his driver's license was being suspended.

Her son, Army Cpl. Jason Bates, hasn't received a traffic ticket in Minnesota in more than three years, but when he's home in Coon Rapids for an expected one-week leave next month, he won't be allowed to drive. That's because between 2003 and 2008, more than 18,000 traffic convictions in Minnesota got lost on their way from the courtroom to the driver's license office.

The violations never showed up on driving records, meaning that thousands of licenses that were supposed to be suspended weren't. A glitch in a years-long transition to a new computer system for the state courts was the culprit, and now that it's been fixed, driving records are being updated -- and long-overdue suspensions and revocations are finally taking place.

"We're playing catchup," said John Kostouros, communications director for the Minnesota Judicial Branch. He said there's no statute of limitations on when traffic convictions can be added to a driving record, or when a license can be suspended. Drivers can go to the state courts website for information on how to apply to have their licenses reinstated.

"The reality is they should've gotten them at the time the conviction went through, and they just didn't, so they've been driving kind of on borrowed time," he said.

The 18,300 convictions from around the state being passed along to Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) represent only a small fraction of the million or traffic cases in Minnesota each year, he said. The convictions are being handed over gradually so as not to overwhelm DVS.

As of June 30, DVS had processed 12,062 of the "delayed-transmission" convictions and had suspended or revoked licenses in just over 4,000 cases, said Kristine Chapin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety. Of the 4,072 convictions, 1,081 were for driving while intoxicated, 772 were related to lack of insurance and 2,219 triggered a suspension because of the number of traffic offenses accumulated in a specified period.

Nieman said it was cumulative offenses that tripped Bates' 90-day suspension, which began June 1. She said her son "did everything he was supposed to" when the convictions happened -- he'd lost his license once before, she said, and she'd paid more than $600 to have it reinstated.

"What purpose does this serve?" Nieman asked. "They already got all their money from the fines."

If Bates' data had been handed over to DVS in an earlier batch, his suspension might already be over. "Can't you just make it from April 1st?" she asked.

Nieman said she received the suspension notice first and didn't get a letter explaining the glitch until later.

An upgrade with a downside

The lapse came to light after the November 2008 arrest of a Dakota County sheriff's deputy whose license should have been suspended because of a previous offense.

Starting in 2003, the state's 87 counties began the gradual switch to the Minnesota Court Information System (MNCIS), the first such upgrade since the 1970s, Kostouros said. Problems with coding some of the violations led to their omission from the data transfer.

State officials knew of no drivers who tried to point out their missing violations or suspensions. "They must've just thought they got lucky or something," said Kostouros.

Jane Morrow, Anoka County's court administrator, said Bates' was among about 681 violations from the county that didn't make it into the DVS system until after the glitch was discovered. She said that about 15 or 20 drivers facing a delayed suspension in Anoka County have brought their cases before a judge, and nearly all have had their licenses reinstated. The cases have been handled administratively, meaning there's no hearing for the would-be drivers to attend.

Morrow said the data delay affects more than just Driver and Vehicle Services. "There are some employers who give people an extra day if they don't have any traffic offenses, there are some commercial drivers who could lose their license if they get convicted," she said. "There's all kinds of things beyond a plain old suspension that could happen to people."

Violations can play a role in determining insurance premiums, but insurers are not automatically notified of offenses, Morrow said -- they "have to make an effort to find out, and some do and some don't."

Nieman e-mailed her son Wednesday to let him know that there's an online packet on the state courts website that he can use to apply to get his license reinstated via the Anoka County courts, and she's hopeful that that process might work. But she remains frustrated by her experiences.

"It just doesn't seem right," she said. "And I feel bad for all the people that are either out of work or barely hanging onto their jobs -- take their license away, too?"

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491