Embrey v. Motor Vehicle Administration

664 A.2d 911, 339 Md. 691, 1995 Md. LEXIS 128
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedSeptember 15, 1995
DocketNo. 6
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 664 A.2d 911 (Embrey v. Motor Vehicle Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Embrey v. Motor Vehicle Administration, 664 A.2d 911, 339 Md. 691, 1995 Md. LEXIS 128 (Md. 1995).

Opinion

BELL, Judge.

The issue this case presents is whether, pursuant to Maryland Code (1977, 1992 Repl.Vol., 1994 Cum.Supp.) § 16-[693]*693205.1(n)(ii) of the Transportation Article,1 a motorist, who, as a result of a prior detention on suspicion of driving or attempting to drive while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol and after failing a breath test for blood alcohol concentration2, has before been issued a restricted driver’s license for employment is entitled to the issuance of another modified or restricted license for a second breath test failure occurring within five years of the first such failure. This issue requires us to interpret § 16-205.1(n)(ii). The Administrative Law Judge3 (ALJ) construed that section to prohibit the issuance of a restricted license in this case and the circuit court agreed. We shall affirm those decisions.

I.

On March 25, 1994, Robert Charles Embrey, the petitioner, was stopped by a Montgomery County police officer for driving while intoxicated. According to the Officer’s Certification [694]*694and Order of Suspension, Form DR-15A, the officer observed the petitioner driving his car at a high rate of speed. After stopping the petitioner, the officer noted a strong odor of alcohol, whereupon he directed the petitioner to perform certain field sobriety tests. As a result of his poor performance on the tests, the petitioner was placed under arrest and . charged with driving while intoxicated.

The petitioner agreed to take a breath test. Based upon the test result, which indicated an alcohol concentration of 0.13, and pursuant to § 16—205.1(b)(3), the arresting officer, inter alia, confiscated the petitioner’s driver’s license and served him with an order of suspension. As was his right, see § 16—205.1(f), the petitioner requested an administrative hearing to show cause why his driver’s license should not be suspended.

At that hearing, the ALJ introduced, on behalf of the Motor Vehicle Administration, the respondent, without objection, inter alia, the Officer’s Certification and Order of Suspension; Form DR-15, an Advice of Rights Form, see Motor Vehicle Admin. v. Chamberlain, 326 Md. 306, 309, 604 A.2d 919, 920 (1992); the breathalyzer test results; and a copy of the petitioner’s driving record. The petitioner then testified that he needs a license to attend alcohol prevention or treatment programs and for his employment. He acknowledged that, in 1991, he had received a restricted license as a result of a prior proceeding pursuant to § 16-205.1. The petitioner argued, however, that, although this was his second offense, a suspension was not mandatory because he never was suspended for his first offense. Noting that, on the prior occasions, he had been issued a thirty day restricted license4, he points out that his driver’s record reflected no suspension of his license on that occasion. Believing that the petitioner was not eligible for a modified or restricted license, having resolved the issues [695]*695to be decided at the hearing against him,5 the ALJ suspended the petitioner’s driver’s license for ninety days. She rejected the petitioner’s request that the suspension be modified to a restricted license, reasoning that the prior suspension of the petitioner’s license for a test failure, occurring within five years of the instant failure, rendered him ineligible for a modified or restricted license.6

[696]*696The petitioner sought judicial review of that decision in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, which affirmed the decision of the ALJ.7 The petitioner then timely filed a petition for certiorari, pursuant to Maryland Code (1984, 1995 Repl.Vol.), § 12-305 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article8, which we granted.

II.

The petitioner’s arguments before this Court are much the same as his arguments before the ALJ. He maintains that his prior test failure resulted in the issuance of a restricted license, not a suspension of that license. The MVA maintains, on the other hand, that the petitioner is not entitled to have another restricted license issued to him because, on the previous occasion, his license was suspended pursuant to § 16-205.1. It argues that a restricted license can only be issued [697]*697after an individual’s privilege to drive has been suspended, that, in other words, the issuance of a restricted license is, in effect, a modification of a suspended license. The petitioner counters that an individual’s license need not first be suspended in order that a restricted license be issued.

III.

It is well settled that “ “ ‘[a] statute is to be construed reasonably and with reference to the Legislature’s purpose, aim or policy as reflected in that statute.’”” Motor Vehicle Administration v. Vermeersch, 331 Md. 188, 194, 626 A.2d 972, 975 (1993) (quoting Motor Vehicle Administration v. Shrader, 324 Md. 454, 463, 597 A.2d 939, 943 (1991) (quoting Kaczorowski v. City of Baltimore, 309 Md. 505, 514, 525 A.2d 628, 632 (1987))). “ ‘[R]esults that are unreasonable, illogical, or inconsistent with common sense should be avoided whenever possible consistent with the statutory language, with the real legislative intention prevailing over the intention indicated by the literal meaning.’” Shrader, 324 Md. at 463, 597 A.2d at 943 (quoting Potter v. Bethesda Fire Dep’t, 309 Md. 347, 353, 524 A.2d 61, 64 (1987) (quoting State v. Fabritz, 276 Md. 416, 422, 348 A.2d 275, 278 (1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 942, 96 S.Ct. 1680, 48 L.Ed.2d 185 (1976))).

We have consistently held that the Legislature’s purpose in enacting Maryland’s Drunk Driving statutes was to protect the public, and not the accused. In referring to those laws, we noted in Vermeersch, that:

One of the methods the Legislature chose to accomplish that purpose [to protect the public from drunk drivers] was to provide an incentive for drivers detained under suspicion of drunk driving to take, rather than refuse, a test for alcohol concentration.

331 Md. at 194, 626 A.2d at 975, (citing Shrader, 324 Md. at 464, 597 A.2d at 944); Chamberlain, 326 Md. at 313, 604 A.2d at 922 (1992). On the other hand, this Court pointed out that, by submitting to a breathalyzer test and failing such a test,

[698]*698[t]he Legislature contemplated not only that, “[t]he suspension of the driver’s license must occur whenever the statutory prerequisites have been met, § 16-205.1(f)(8)(v),” but that the sanction applicable to the option the driver chose also occur.

Vermeersch, 331 Md. at 194, 626 A.2d at 975.

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Bluebook (online)
664 A.2d 911, 339 Md. 691, 1995 Md. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/embrey-v-motor-vehicle-administration-md-1995.