G. Walker, III v. Bureau of Motor Vehicles

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 30, 2019
Docket771 C.D. 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of G. Walker, III v. Bureau of Motor Vehicles (G. Walker, III v. Bureau of Motor Vehicles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
G. Walker, III v. Bureau of Motor Vehicles, (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Grady Walker III : : : v. : No. 771 C.D. 2018 : Argued: April 9, 2019 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, : Department of Transportation, : Bureau of Motor Vehicles, : Appellant :

BEFORE: HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge HONORABLE ANNE E. COVEY, Judge (P) HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE COHN JUBELIRER FILED: April 30, 2019

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Motor Vehicles (Department) appeals from an Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County (trial court) sustaining Grady Walker III’s (Licensee) appeal and rescinding the two-year suspension on Licensee’s Official Emission Inspector License. The trial court sustained Licensee’s appeal on the basis that the Department’s Order of Suspension was insufficient and deprived Licensee of due process. The Department presents two issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred as a matter of law in sustaining Licensee’s appeal on the basis that the Order of Suspension did not satisfy due process; and (2) whether the Department satisfied its prima facie burden of proof to support the violations forming the basis for the Order of Suspension.1 Upon review, we affirm.

I. Facts a. Suspension The Department notified Licensee in 2016 that a report from the Quality Assurance Officer showed violations in Licensee’s emission inspection of a Toyota Corolla. The notice explained that the violations in question related to Licensee’s record keeping, as well as his furnishing, lending, giving, selling, or receiving an emission inspection sticker for the vehicle without inspection.2 (Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 57a.) The Department also notified Licensee that an informal Department hearing was scheduled for December 20, 2016, before the Pennsylvania Safety and Emissions Team for Licensee to present testimony pertinent to these violations. (Id. at 58a.) Although Licensee’s counsel and the trial court briefly noted that the Department hearing was held, there is no record of it before this Court. (Id. at 68a, 110a.) The Department issued its Order of Suspension on January 31, 2017. The Order of Suspension provided:

You are hereby notified that your certification as an Official Emission Inspector is suspended, pursuant to Section 4726 of the Vehicle Code[, 75 Pa. C.S. § 47263]. No vehicle emission inspections may be 1 The Department’s arguments have been reordered for ease of discussion. 2 The language that appears in this notice is almost identical to that at issue in the Order of Suspension. 3 Section 4726 of the Vehicle Code provides in relevant part that:

[t]he [D]epartment shall supervise mechanics certified under this section and may suspend the certification issued to a mechanic . . . if it finds that the mechanic has (Footnote continued on next page…)

2 performed during the suspension. Pursuant to Departmental regulations, your certification as an Official Emissions Inspector is suspended for one (1) year for furnish[ing], lend[ing], giv[ing], sell[ing] or receiv[ing] a certificate of inspection without inspection, and one (1) year for fraudulent record keeping (2012 Toyota Corolla VIN: 2T1BU4EE0CC831095, sticker issued IM6-5355744, to the vehicle, by [Licensee], Operator #23-748-450).

(Id. at 55a.) Licensee appealed to the trial court, which issued a supersedeas order staying the suspension pending final disposition of the appeal. (Id. at 21a.)

b. Trial court hearing After various continuances, the trial court held a hearing on Licensee’s appeal on September 21, 2017. Preliminarily, Licensee argued that the Order of Suspension did not provide adequate notice for due process purposes because it did not set forth “a factual summary of the basis for suspension.” (Hr’g Tr. at 10.) The trial court deferred ruling on the due process issue until after the hearing. The Department offered into evidence the certified record of the Department, to which Licensee objected on the basis that one of the documents in the record, an emission station audit report, contained hearsay. The trial court conditionally admitted the certified record subject to verification of the hearsay at issue, but because the testimony did not pertain to that document, the trial court never ruled upon the objection.

_____________________________ (continued…) improperly conducted inspections or has violated or failed to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter or regulations adopted by the [D]epartment.

75 Pa. C.S. § 4726.

3 The Department presented the testimony of William Moyer (Moyer), who is the regional manager for quality assurance officers with Parsons, a company subcontracted by the Department for auditing emission and safety inspections. (Id. at 13-14.) Moyer testified as follows about Licensee’s violations based upon a spreadsheet that Moyer provided to the Department with information about inspections conducted by Licensee for the vehicle in question. (Id. at 16-17; Ex. C-1(7), R.R. at 63a-65a.) Moyer explained that the inspections were linked to Licensee, as inspectors were required to input their license numbers and passwords into emission analyzers before beginning inspection. (Hr’g Tr. at 18-19, 21.) The information in the report was stored in the vehicle identification information database and reviewed monthly for irregularities. (Id. at 20.) The report showed that on May 23, 2016, the Toyota Corolla that Licensee inspected had a mileage of 82,867,4 a figure which Licensee was required to manually enter. (Id. at 25-26; Ex. C-1(7), R.R. at 63a-64a.) The vehicle subsequently failed the emission test. (Hr’g Tr. at 25.) The report also showed an inspection for the same vehicle 10 days later, on June 3, 2016, and Licensee entered the mileage of 88,502 at that time. (Id. at 26, 29, 31.) Licensee then gave the vehicle an emission inspection sticker on the basis that the vehicle fell within the 5000-mile exemption, which provides that a vehicle driven less than 5000 miles in 12 months and owned by the same individual for over a year may be provided an exemption emission inspection sticker. (Id. at 26-27.) Inspectors can verify that the vehicle has been driven less than 5000 miles by referencing the inspection sticker, the inspection report from

4 The mileage reported in the May 2016 inspection was over 5000 miles from the last inspection on the Toyota Corolla in March 2015, at which time the vehicle’s mileage was 59,681. (R.R. at 64a.)

4 the previous year, or through the inspection station’s emission analyzer. (Id. at 27- 28.) However, the emission analyzer does not automatically recognize or alert the inspector if the current mileage the inspector enters is over 5000 miles from the last inspection. (Id. at 38-40.) While a typical emission inspection requires the inspector to perform tests on the vehicle with the emission analyzer to confirm that the vehicle passes, such tests are not required when a 5000-mile exemption is provided. (Id. at 32-34.) Instead, when the inspector enters the 5000-mile exemption menu on the emission analyzer, the inspector enters the vehicle information, including VIN number, sticker number, and mileage for the car, the inspection is finalized, and the sticker issuance report for the exemption is printed. (Id. at 35-36.) At the conclusion of Moyer’s testimony, Licensee did not present any evidence, and the trial court allowed submission of post-hearing memorandums, which both parties submitted.

c. Trial Court decision The trial court issued its Order on May 7, 2018, sustaining the appeal and rescinding the license suspension on the basis that the Order of Suspension did not satisfy due process.

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Bluebook (online)
G. Walker, III v. Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/g-walker-iii-v-bureau-of-motor-vehicles-pacommwct-2019.