Beavin v. State Ex Rel. Department of Public Safety

1983 OK 34, 662 P.2d 299, 1983 Okla. LEXIS 170
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 12, 1983
Docket56607
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 1983 OK 34 (Beavin v. State Ex Rel. Department of Public Safety) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beavin v. State Ex Rel. Department of Public Safety, 1983 OK 34, 662 P.2d 299, 1983 Okla. LEXIS 170 (Okla. 1983).

Opinion

LAVENDER, Justice:

On the evening of November 21, 1979, Jerry Beavin, Appellant, gave express permission allowing his minor son to drive an uninsured automobile owned by the Appellant and registered in the State of Oklahoma. Early the following morning, for reasons unknown, Appellant’s son allowed a friend, Mark S., to drive the same uninsured automobile. Mark S. subsequently became involved in a collision, substantially damaging three vehicles including Appellant’s. Mark S. was cited by the Oklahoma City police. However, the citation was later dismissed.

On October 15, 1980, pursuant to 47 O.S. 1981, § 7-206, the State sent Appellant notice that his license and registration were suspended, noting specifically that Oklahoma requires every motor vehicle registered in the state to be insured or proof of financial responsibility be furnished in lieu thereof.

Appellant requested a hearing and on December 18, 1980, a hearing was conducted by the Department of Public Safety. 1 Appellant urged he was without fault for the accident as he had not given the driver, *300 Mark S., permission to drive the automobile at the time of the accident. The Commissioner found:

1. Appellant was the owner of an automobile registered in the state, which was involved in an accident;
2. The accident was covered by the Oklahoma Financial Responsibility Law;
and
3. Appellant came under an exception to the law for the purpose of posting security following an accident.

Appellant’s license and registration were then ordered suspended unless Appellant filed proof of financial responsibility within 21 days. 2

Pursuant to 47 O.S.1981, § 7-102(a) Appellant filed a petition in Oklahoma County District Court requesting review of the Commissioner’s order. Appellant contends that under the provisions of 47 O.S.Supp. 1979, § 7-301 he was not required to file proof of financial responsibility for the future, as he was not in the class of persons so required. 3 At the resulting hearing held February 27, 1981, the court found that Oklahoma has a Compulsory Liability Insurance Law. 4 Consequently, the court sustained the earlier order and upheld the suspension of Appellant’s driver’s license and vehicle registration.

On appeal to this Court Appellant urges that the Oklahoma Financial Responsibility Act is fault based, i.e., before any action can be taken regarding suspension of license and registration Appellant must have been involved in an accident caused by his fault. It is uncontroverted that Appellant was without fault in the accident. Appellant urges that this uncontroverted fact coupled with the exceptions of § 7-203 is enough to exempt him from the requirements of the Act.

The subject of this appeal centers around whether the provisions of § 7-601 are applicable to the owner of an uninsured automobile, involved in an accident, wherein the owner was found to be without fault and subsequently considered to be within an exception to the filing of security following an accident and the filing of proof of financial responsibility for the future.

In support of his contention Appellant urges the United States Supreme Court decision of Bell v. Burson 5 and a 1971 opinion by the Oklahoma Attorney General wherein the Attorney General stated that the Oklahoma Financial Responsibility Act is fault based. 6

Aside from the obvious fact that since 1971 the Oklahoma Legislature has enacted Article VI of the Act 7 (the Compulsory Liability Insurance Law), Bell is distinguishable on its facts. In Bell the Court was faced with determining whether a Georgia State Statute purporting to suspend the license and registration of an uninsured motorist involved in an accident, regardless of fault, was a violation of due process under the fourteenth amendment. In holding that it was a violation of due process the Court stated:

“[Ujnder Georgia’s present statutory scheme, before the State may deprive petitioner of his driver’s license and vehicle registration it must provide a forum for the determination of the question whether there is a reasonable possibility of a judgment being rendered against him as a result of the accident. We deem it inappropriate in this case to do more than lay down this requirement. The alternative methods of compliance are several. Georgia may decide merely to include consideration of the question at the administrative hearing now provided, or it may elect to postpone such a consideration to the de novo judicial proceedings in the Superior Court. Georgia may *301 decide to withhold suspension until adjudication of an action for damages brought by the injured party. Indeed, Georgia may elect to abandon its present scheme completely and pursue one of the various alternatives in force in other States. 6 Finally, Georgia may reject all of the above and devise an entirely new regulatory scheme. The area of choice is wide: we hold only that the failure of the present Georgia scheme to afford the petitioner a prior hearing on liability of the nature we have defined denied him procedural due process in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
6 The various alternatives include compulsory insurance plans, public or joint public-private unsatisfied judgment funds, and assigned claims plans. See R. Keeton & J. O’Connell, After Cars Crash (1967).” 8

The above quote from Bell and footnote 6 clearly point out that Georgia did not have a Compulsory Liability Insurance Law in effect at the time of Bell. If Georgia did have the Compulsory Insurance law the results of Bell would have been different. 9 Moreover Bell dealt with a statute purporting to suspend an uninsured motorist’s license and registration after an accident regardless of fault. In our Financial Responsibility Act, 10 then in effect, fault was a prerequisite to suspension. 11 Such is no longer the case, however, since the Legislature in 1976 enacted Article VI of the Act.

Article VI of the Act, specifically § 7-601, provides:

“Every owner of a motor vehicle registered in this state, other than a licensed used car dealer, shall, at all times,

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Bluebook (online)
1983 OK 34, 662 P.2d 299, 1983 Okla. LEXIS 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beavin-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-public-safety-okla-1983.