Our client, a dedicated school-district employee with nearly 20 years of service, believed that a 1991 felony conviction in the Wayne County Circuit Court had long been cleared from his record. He had successfully passed numerous background checks over the years, and the conviction never appeared on any criminal-history report. Then, without warning, the old conviction resurfaced on his record.
Faced with the sudden appearance of the conviction, his employer informed him that unless his record was cleared by a specified deadline, his employment would be terminated. At stake: his job, his health insurance, his pension—and nearly two decades of service.
That’s when our firm stepped in. We filed the appropriate paperwork to have the 1991 conviction set aside. When the court’s first scheduled hearing date was beyond the employer’s deadline, we prepared and filed an emergency motion to move the matter ahead. The motion was granted and the conviction was officially set aside.
However, because the Michigan State Police (MSP) can take four to eight weeks to update their system, the employer remained unwilling to acknowledge the court’s order. We again intervened, applying pressure at the MSP level — emphasizing that our client faced immediate loss of livelihood, benefits and pension if the matter was not resolved expeditiously. As a result of our persistence, the MSP swiftly cleared the client’s formal criminal-history record.
Our client is now: felony-free, with the 1991 conviction formally set aside, reinstated in his long-term school district role and able to retain his health insurance and pension benefits. He now has the peace of mind to move forward professionally and personally.