Butler v. DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS

609 So. 2d 790, 1992 La. LEXIS 3724, 1992 WL 355088
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 30, 1992
Docket92-CA-1918
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 609 So. 2d 790 (Butler v. DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Butler v. DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS, 609 So. 2d 790, 1992 La. LEXIS 3724, 1992 WL 355088 (La. 1992).

Opinion

609 So.2d 790 (1992)

Patrick J. BUTLER
v.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS.

No. 92-CA-1918.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

November 30, 1992.

*791 Christopher J. Boudreaux, Lafayette, for applicant.

Paul E. Schexnayder, Baton Rouge, Boudreaux & LaRose, Thibodaux, Richard P. Ieyoub, Atty. Gen., Walter K. Naquin, Jr., Dist. Atty., for respondent.

DENNIS, Justice.

In this case, we consider the constitutionality of that part of Louisiana's Implied Consent Law, La.R.S. 32:667 and 668 which authorizes a driver's license suspension after a motorist is arrested for driving while intoxicated and the motorist's blood alcohol level is found to exceed .10g%. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections has appealed a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Patrick J. Butler, which reversed the Department's administrative order of suspension of his driver's license after a DWI arrest on the grounds that the administrative procedure violates the state and federal constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection. We hold that the district court erred on both accounts, and accordingly reverse and reinstate the decision of the administrative law judge.

FACTS

On September 14, 1990, Patrick J. Butler was arrested in Thibodaux, Louisiana for driving while intoxicated in violation of La. R.S. 14:98. After being stopped for speeding, Butler was ordered to perform and successfully completed certain field sobriety tests. Thereafter, a breath analysis test was administered and a blood alcohol concentration of .14g% was registered.

*792 Pursuant to La.R.S. 32:667 the Department of Public Safety suspended his driver's license for 90 days, which suspension was affirmed at an administrative hearing. Butler thereafter appealed the suspension of his license to the Seventeenth Judicial District Court. In written reasons for judgment, the district court judge ruled that the suspension of Butler's driver's license constituted a violation of the due process and double jeopardy clauses of the state and federal constitutions and accordingly reversed the driver's license suspension. Later, criminal proceedings were instituted. On January 15, 1991, Butler was convicted of Driving While Intoxicated in connection with this incident, sentenced to 90 days in jail, which term was suspended upon compliance with various conditions. The license suspension matter was then directly appealed to this court.

THE STATUTE

Louisiana's Implied Consent Law, La. R.S. 32:667 and 668, operates in conjunction with the statute which makes operating a vehicle while intoxicated a criminal offense, La.R.S. 14:98.[1] The statutes were enacted in 1972 as part of a comprehensive legislative package to combat dangers posed by drunk driving. The implied consent statute attempts to assuage this problem by deeming all licensed drivers on state highways to have impliedly consented to any number of tests to determine intoxication. Suspension or revocation of a driver's license under the implied consent statute is a further attempt to remove the hazards posed by drunk drivers.

In addition to the criminal penalties of section 14:98, the law provides that when a person is arrested for a drunk driving offense and either refuses to submit or voluntarily submits to a blood alcohol test and the result shows a blood alcohol level of.10g% or above, the arrestee's driver's license shall be seized and a temporary receipt of license issued in its place. La.R.S. 32:667A(1) (1989). The temporary receipt serves as notice to the arrestee that he has not more than ten days from the date of arrest to make a written request to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections for an administrative hearing in accordance with La.R.S. 32:668. La.R.S. 32:667A(2) (1989). If no timely request is filed, the person's driver's license may be suspended for ninety days on a first offense without eligibility for a hardship license for the first thirty days, and for three hundred sixty-five days without eligibility for a hardship license on second and subsequent violations occurring within five years of the first offense. La.R.S. 32:667B(1) (1989). However, if a timely request is filed, the arrestee is entitled to have the reasonableness of the suspension determined after a hearing before an administrative law judge of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which judgment is appealable thereafter to an appropriate court. La.R.S. 32:668 (1989). Thus, administrative and judicial review de novo are available before the license suspension or revocation becomes effective. See Flynn v. State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety & Correction, 608 So.2d 994 (La.1992); Dement v. Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections, 590 So.2d 1333 (La.App.2d Cir.1991); Jaubert v. Department of Public Safety, 323 So.2d 212 (La.App. 4th Cir.1975); Harrison v. State Department of Public Safety, 298 So.2d 312 (La.App. 4th Cir.1974). La.R.S. 49:951 et seq. (1987 & Supp.1992).

DUE PROCESS

It is a well-established state and federal constitutional principle that a driver's license is a property interest that cannot be suspended or revoked without due process of law. Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 91 S.Ct. 1586, 29 L.Ed.2d 90 (1971); State v. Page, 332 So.2d 427 (La.1976). The constitutional adequacy of an adjudicatory process in which there is a deprivation of property is governed by the tripartite balancing test announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. *793 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976). The reviewing court must analyze and weigh three factors: first, the private interest affected by official action; second, the risk of error in the procedures used and the effectiveness, if any, of additional or substitute procedures; and third, the governmental interest involved. 424 U.S. at 335, 96 S.Ct. at 903.

We find it significant that Butler does not challenge the constitutional adequacy of the driver's license suspension process as a whole. Rather, he alleges that the combination of functions or roles played by the State in the drivers' license suspension process has deprived him of due process of law. His challenge, therefore, is that the statutory process is unconstitutional as applied in his case. The district court, in effect, concluded that Butler was denied due process of law under a "strict separation of functions" rationale because, in its assessment, the State functioned as investigator, advocate, and decisionmaker in Butler's criminal trial and license suspension hearing, thereby depriving Butler of a neutral and detached decisionmaker. We conclude that the district court applied an incorrect interpretation of the "separation of functions" doctrine and accordingly reverse the decision of the district court insofar as it relates to the State's due process argument.

An impartial decisionmaker is essential to an administrative adjudication that comports with due process, even if de novo review is available. Withrow v. Larkin, 421 U.S. 35, 95 S.Ct. 1456, 43 L.Ed.2d 712 (1975); Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564, 93 S.Ct. 1689, 36 L.Ed.2d 488 (1973); Ward v. Village of Monroeville, Ohio, 409 U.S. 57, 93 S.Ct. 80, 34 L.Ed.2d 267 (1972); Goldberg v. Kelly,

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Bluebook (online)
609 So. 2d 790, 1992 La. LEXIS 3724, 1992 WL 355088, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-dept-of-public-safety-and-corrections-la-1992.