Ford v. Director of Revenue

11 S.W.3d 106, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2000 WL 150772
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 14, 2000
DocketNo. 22879
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 11 S.W.3d 106 (Ford v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford v. Director of Revenue, 11 S.W.3d 106, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2000 WL 150772 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

PHILLIP R. GARRISON, Chief Judge.

Blake Edward Ford (“Respondent”) was arrested by a Sikeston, Missouri police officer for driving while intoxicated when he was found passed out behind the wheel of his car. A breath test demonstrated that he had a blood alcohol content of .15% and, although he was never convicted for driving while intoxicated, his driving privileges were suspended by the Director of Revenue (“Director”) pursuant to Section 302.505, RSMo 1994.1 Respondent filed a petition three years later against the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Department, the City of Sikeston and the Scott County prosecuting attorney seeking to have all records relating to the arrest and the Department’s administrative action expunged. His petition sought relief pursuant to Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp. 1998,2 “and in accord with the equitable authority granted to Courts of general jurisdiction within the State of Missouri.” Director filed a motion to dismiss noting that there was no statutory authority for the expungement sought. That motion was overruled.

At the hearing on the petition, Director disputed the trial court’s authority to order the expungement of the Department’s administrative records of the suspension, noting that there is no statutory authority authorizing that action under these facts. The only witness was Respondent who testified that he had gone through alcohol rehabilitation, and he answered affirmatively to the following question:

[a]s you and I were discussing ten years down the road this administrative mark on your record might not be a big concern, but right now it is there for everyone to see, potential employers and your insurance company to see, and you are asking that the incident that happened to you when you were seventeen be expunged from your records so you can have a clean start?

The trial court ordered all defendants to delete all records of the arrest, confinement and the administrative action. In doing so, it noted that Respondent was seventeen years old at the time of his arrest, and it found that it was “well satisfied that [Respondent] ha[d] rehabilitated himself and ha[d] been able to avoid consumption of alcohol for a period of time so as to convince the Court of [Respondent’s] maturity.” It also found that the records of Respondent’s arrest and those relating [108]*108to the administrative suspension indicating an “alcohol related enforcement contact [were] detrimental to the [Respondent], [were] detrimental to [Respondent’s] employment and education prospects, that there [was] no adequate remedy at law, and that irreparable harm [would] continue to come to the [Respondent] by the presence of these records.”

Noting that its jurisdiction to order the expungement had been questioned, the trial court referred to the fact that under Article 5, Section 14 of the Missouri Constitution, the Circuit Courts of this State have original jurisdiction over all cases and matters, civil and criminal, .including equitable powers. It also noted Section 1.010, RSMo 1994, which declares that the Common Law of England, except where repugnant or inconsistent with the United States Constitution, the Missouri Constitution or the Missouri statutes, is the rule of action and decision. It held, inter alia:

The Court notes that Missouri Statute 610.122 provides for the-expungement of any record of arrest, if it is determined that the arrest was based on false information if other listed conditions exist. While this Statute is not applicable here, Subsection 5 states that the Court may act, provided no civil action is pending related to the arrest or the records sought to be expunged. This Statute, enacted by the Legislature, does not prohibit other methods of expungement.

The trial court concluded that it had jurisdiction and authority to issue an equitable decree ordering the expungement of Respondent’s arrest records and the Department’s records of the administrative suspension. In so finding, the trial court concluded that the information placed on Respondent’s driving record by the Department in connection with the administrative suspension “is so similar to a record of arrest as to be legally indistinguishable.” The trial court entered a judgment directing the Director and the other defendants to “delete from their records all records of arrest; confinement, Administrative Hearing and other matters relating to” the incident in question. Director appeals that judgment.

In his sole point on appeal, Director contends that the trial court erred in ordering the expungement of all records, including those of his administrative action under Section 302.505, RSMo 1994, because that action exceeded the court’s jurisdiction and was a misapplication of law in that: (1) the trial court, in ordering the expungement of records, may grant only the relief provided by specific statutes relating to the expungement of such records, as opposed to exercising general equitable powers; (2) Respondent’s petition sought relief under only Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp.1998; (3) Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp.1998, does not apply because it only allows expungement of arrest records, and not records of administrative actions taken by Director; (4) Respondent presented no evidence that his arrest was based on false information or that any other conditions provided in Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp.1998, were met; and (5) Section 610.122, RSMo Cum. Supp.1998, does not apply to the expungement of arrest records relating to alcohol-related offenses because other specific statutes govern expungement of those records.

Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp. 1998, by its terms, applies only to records of arrest, and then, only if the court finds that the arrest was based on false information and that all of the five conditions set forth'in the statute are shown to exist. Respondent made no showing sufficient to satisfy any of these requirements. In fact, the trial court found that Section 610.122, RSMo Cum.Supp.1998, was inapplicable, but it proceeded to grant the relief sought by Respondent under general equitable principles, apparently with the belief that subsection 5 of that statute, by referring to the necessity of showing the lack of a pending civil action relating to the arrest or records sought to be expunged, indicat[109]*109ed that other methods of expungement are not prohibited.

We are not directed to any statute that would authorize the action taken by the trial court here concerning records of the Department. For instance, Section 302.545, RSMo Cum.Supp.1998, authorizes the expungement of the Department records, but it applies only to persons under twenty-one years of age whose driving privilege has been suspended or revoked for a first determination that they were driving with a blood alcohol content of .02 to .10. Here, the evidence indicates that Respondent had a blood alcohol level of .15.

As pointed out by Director, he is responsible for maintaining driving records for Missouri drivers. He refers to Stahl v. Director of Revenue, 998 S.W.2d 601, 603-04 (Mo.App. S.D.1999), where this court said that driving records are relied on for various purposes, are expected to be accurate, and can be relevant to future actions. In Stahl,

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Bluebook (online)
11 S.W.3d 106, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 243, 2000 WL 150772, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-2000.