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Wayne finally gets his $131

Topics: Viking Dodge

Wayne finally gets his $131

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
February 5, 2010

Remember Wayne Beto, the man who picketed Viking Dodge for more than two years? The same Wayne who was to receive $131.00 from Viking Dodge, after Viking asked the court to drop its claim against Wayne a year ago, in January 2009?

When Wayne didn't get the $131.00, he was tempted to give up. But Wayne is a man of principle, and he kept his hand out for the $131.00. Not because he needed it; it would have been easy (and more economical) to give up.

Wayne received the check for $131.00 this week. This week! And imagine his surprise when he saw that the check was issued by Viking Dodge's law firm on January 20, 2009. 2009!!! (To enlarge either image, click on it; then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.)

Where was the check all this time? In the office of his own law firm, Franks, Gerkin & McKenna, P.C., of Marengo!!!

Through the spring of 2009 Wayne kept asking his lawyer when he was going to get the $131.00. Then he went back to court during the summer, and the judge told him to go to Viking Dodge and ask for it. He went to Viking Dodge's attorney and had a rather unpleasant encounter, during which they did not tell him that they had sent the $131.00 to his own lawyer's office.

In the early winter he learned that Viking Dodge's attorney had sent the $131.00 to Franks, Gerkin & McKenna back in January (2009), so he called his attorney there. He got stonewalled for two months and was ready to file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), when I suggested he call senior partner Herb Franks and give him a short deadline to deliver the check.

And so this week, on February 1, 2010, Franks, Gerkin & McKenna, P.C. finally mailed Wayne the original check from Viking Dodge's law firm, which was dated January 20, 2009. I wonder if they blew the dust off of it before mailing it.

Will his bank honor it? I encouraged Wayne to ask his banker before depositing it, in order to avoid returned-check fees for this now stale-dated check. The bank might negotiate the check, since it is issued by a law firm. On the other hand, Wayne may have to ask Viking Dodge's law firm to re-issue it with a current date.

What possible reason could Franks, Gerkin & McKenna, P.C. have for holding this check for a full year???

Is anyone else having trouble with this law firm or any other law firm in McHenry County?