Glanz v. Commissioner of Motor Vehicles

210 Conn. App. 515
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 8, 2022
DocketAC44189
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 210 Conn. App. 515 (Glanz v. Commissioner of Motor Vehicles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glanz v. Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, 210 Conn. App. 515 (Colo. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

*********************************************** The “officially released” date that appears near the be- ginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be pub- lished in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the be- ginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the “officially released” date appearing in the opinion.

All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the advance release version of an opinion and the latest version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest version is to be considered authoritative.

The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publica- tions, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. *********************************************** ADAM GLANZ v. COMMISSIONER OF MOTOR VEHICLES (AC 44189) Bright, C. J., and Alvord and Norcott, Js.

Syllabus

The plaintiff, who had been arrested for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor in violation of statute (§ 14- 227a), appealed to the trial court from the decision of the defendant, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, suspending the plaintiff’s motor vehicle operator’s license and requiring the installation of ignition inter- lock devices on his motor vehicles pursuant to statute (§ 14-227b). Fol- lowing the plaintiff’s arrest, a police officer administered a breath alcohol test on him four times. Although the second test yielded a higher blood alcohol content result than the first, it was invalidated. Only the first and fourth tests yielded valid results, the fourth producing a lower result than the first. At the administrative hearing before the defendant’s hearing officer, the plaintiff presented the testimony of an expert, P, that the second test had been scientifically valid and that the plaintiff’s blood alcohol content had been rising from the time he operated his motor vehicle to the time when the tests were performed. The hearing officer found that P’s testimony was informative but not persuasive. The plaintiff appealed to the trial court, claiming that the hearing officer improperly relied on the presumption in § 14-227b (g) that the results of blood alcohol tests commenced within two hours of operation of a motor vehicle were sufficient to indicate blood alcohol content at the time of operation and that the hearing officer had ignored the exception in the criminal statute, § 14-227a (b), that, if the results of a second blood alcohol test indicated that the ratio of alcohol in the blood was 0.1 percent or less and was higher than the results of the first test, the defendant was required to show that the test results and analysis accurately reflected the plaintiff’s blood alcohol content at the time of the alleged offense. The trial court rendered judgment dismissing the appeal, and the plaintiff appealed to this court. Held: 1. The plaintiff could not prevail on his claim that his right to procedural due process was violated by the administrative procedures contained in § 14-227b (g) regarding evidence of blood alcohol content in the context of a license suspension hearing: the hearing officer, having considered and found unpersuasive P’s opinion that the results of the tests were unreliable, properly applied the permissive presumption that the breath alcohol test results were sufficient to indicate the plaintiff’s blood alcohol content at the time of operation without the need for additional evidence; moreover, the state’s interest in promoting traffic safety and performing license suspension hearings in an expeditious manner comported with the presumption in § 14-227b (g), and the plain- tiff, as the subject of a license suspension hearing, was not entitled to all of the procedural protections available in a criminal proceeding, thus, the rising blood alcohol content exception in § 14-227a (b) was not applicable to the plaintiff; furthermore; substantial evidence in the record consisting of the plaintiff’s valid breath alcohol test results dem- onstrated that his blood alcohol content was falling, not rising. 2. The trial court properly determined that § 14-227b and not § 14-227a applied to the plaintiff’s administrative license suspension hearing; §14- 227a (b) expressly provides that it applies to criminal prosecutions, and the plaintiff was the subject of a civil administrative license suspension hearing, which was governed by § 14-227b. Argued October 18, 2021—officially released February 8, 2022

Procedural History

Appeal from the decision of the defendant suspending the plaintiff’s motor vehicle operator’s license and requiring the installation of ignition interlock devices on the plaintiff’s vehicles, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New Britain and tried to the court, Cordani, J.; judgment dismissing the appeal, from which the plaintiff appealed to this court. Affirmed. Morgan Paul Rueckert, for the appellant (plaintiff). John M. Russo, Jr., assistant attorney general, with whom, on the brief, was William Tong, attorney gen- eral, for the appellee (defendant). Opinion

NORCOTT, J. The plaintiff, Adam Glanz, appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court rendered in favor of the defendant, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles (commissioner), dismissing his appeal from the deci- sion of the commissioner suspending his motor vehicle operator’s license for forty-five days, pursuant to Gen- eral Statutes § 14-227b, and requiring ignition interlock devices in his motor vehicles for six months. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that (1) the presumption in § 14-227b (g) that the results of blood alcohol tests commenced within two hours of operation shall be sufficient to indicate blood alcohol content at the time of operation violates his right to due process under the federal con- stitution because it does not include an exception requiring the submission of additional evidence to prove the accuracy of the blood alcohol test results in the event that such test results reveal that the operator’s blood alcohol level was rising, and (2) the court erred in concluding that the rising blood alcohol exception in the criminal statute for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, General Statutes § 14-227a (b), did not apply to his administrative license suspension hearing. We affirm the judgment of the Superior Court. In its memorandum of decision, the court found the following facts. ‘‘On December 1, 2019, Officer [Kevin] Geraci of the South Windsor Police Department observed a vehicle speeding, crossing the solid yellow center line of the road, and revving its engine thereby creating loud exhaust noise. The officer pulled the vehi- cle over at 12:47 a.m. and identified the plaintiff as its operator. The officer smelled the odor of alcohol emanating from inside the vehicle. The plaintiff then admitted to recently drinking two beers. As a result of all of the foregoing, the officer asked the plaintiff to exit the vehicle so that the officer could administer the standard field sobriety tests. During the conduct of the field sobriety tests, the plaintiff then admitted to recently drinking four beers. The plaintiff failed the standard field sobriety tests. ‘‘In light of the foregoing, the officer arrested the plaintiff for violating . . . § 14-227a and transported the plaintiff to police headquarters.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 Conn. App. 515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glanz-v-commissioner-of-motor-vehicles-connappct-2022.