Hays v. DRIVER AND MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES

209 P.3d 405, 228 Or. App. 689
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMay 27, 2009
Docket07015571M A135543
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 209 P.3d 405 (Hays v. DRIVER AND MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hays v. DRIVER AND MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES, 209 P.3d 405, 228 Or. App. 689 (Or. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

209 P.3d 405 (2009)
228 Or. App. 689

In the Matter of the SUSPENSION OF the DRIVING PRIVILEGES OF Ryan Eric HAYS, Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
DRIVER AND MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES DIVISION (DMV), a division of the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Respondent-Respondent.

07015571M; A135543.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted on January 16, 2009.
Decided May 27, 2009.

*406 John Henry Hingson III, Oregon City, argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Rolf C. Moan, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief were Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General.

Before LANDAU, Presiding Judge, and SCHUMAN, Judge, and ORTEGA, Judge.

SCHUMAN, J.

The Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division (DMV) ordered the suspension of petitioner's driver's license for failing a chemical breath test, and, on judicial review, the circuit court affirmed the suspension. On appeal, petitioner contends that the suspension is invalid because the breath sample was obtained as the result of a process that did not conform to statutory requirements; according to petitioner, the officer who presented petitioner with the consequences of *407 refusing to take the test exceeded his authority by adding a consequence that the statutes omit. We review the DMV order directly for substantial evidence and errors of law, ORS 813.450(4); Davis v. DMV, 209 Or.App. 39, 41, 146 P.3d 378 (2006), rev. den., 342 Or. 344, 153 P.3d 123 (2007), and we reverse and remand.

The facts are not in dispute. Deputy Romans responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash. When he arrived at the scene, emergency medical personnel were attending to the driver, petitioner in this case, who was still inside the vehicle. Romans observed that petitioner smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes. He asked petitioner if he would perform field sobriety tests. Petitioner responded by stepping out of the vehicle, leaning on the door to maintain his balance. Romans administered only the horizontal gaze nystagmus test; in his judgment, petitioner was too impaired to perform the other tests. Roman concluded that petitioner was under the influence of alcohol.

Petitioner was taken to the hospital, where Romans arrested him for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010. Romans read petitioner the statutorily required information regarding implied consent rights and consequences, ORS 813.130, and asked him if he would consent to a breath test. Petitioner refused. Romans asked petitioner if he would consent to blood and urine tests. Petitioner again refused. Romans then informed petitioner that he would get a warrant for petitioner's blood and urine. Petitioner responded, "I will give a breath test."

Petitioner was transported from the hospital to the jail. After the required 15-minute observation period, and more than three hours after his first contact with petitioner, Romans administered the breath test. Petitioner registered a blood alcohol content of .09 percent, which is .01 above the level sufficient to support a conviction for DUII. ORS 813.010(1)(a).

DMV suspended petitioner's driving privileges based on the breath test result, ORS 813.410(1), and petitioner requested an administrative hearing to contest the suspension, ORS 813.410(3). Following the hearing, the administrative law judge (ALJ) issued a final order suspending petitioner's license for one year. ORS 813.420(4); ORS 813.430(2). Petitioner sought judicial review in circuit court, ORS 813.410(7), and the court affirmed.

On appeal, ORS 813.450(3), petitioner renews two arguments that he made at the hearing. First, he argues that ORS 813.100(2) prohibits a police officer from administering a breath test after a driver has once refused to take the test, even if the driver, in response to the officer's renewed request, subsequently reconsiders and agrees. Second, he argues that his consent to the breath test was impermissibly coerced because it was given in response to Romans's threat to obtain a warrant for his blood and urine, something that Romans was not legally authorized to do. DMV responds that we rejected petitioner's first argument in State v. Kirsch, 215 Or.App. 67, 168 P.3d 318 (2007), and that we must reject petitioner's second argument because there exists no basis for reversal of an administrative order of suspension where all of the statutory prerequisites for suspension under ORS 813.410(5) have been met.

We consider petitioner's statutory argument first. ORS 813.100(2) provides:

"No chemical test of the person's breath or blood shall be given, under subsection (1) of this section, to a person under arrest for driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants in violation of ORS 813.010 or of a municipal ordinance, if the person refuses the request of a police officer to submit to the chemical test after the person has been informed of consequences and rights as described under ORS 813.130."

(Emphasis added.) As noted previously, petitioner argues that, under that provision, his initial refusal to submit to the breath test precluded Romans from administering the test at any point thereafter, even though petitioner subsequently changed his mind and agreed to take it.

In Kirsch, a criminal case, we rejected that argument, holding that "ORS 813.100(2) does not preclude the giving of a breath test in *408 circumstances in which a driver who initially refuses to take a breath test is later invited to reconsider and agrees to take the test." 215 Or.App.

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Related

Hays v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Services Division
216 P.3d 902 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
209 P.3d 405, 228 Or. App. 689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hays-v-driver-and-motor-vehicle-services-orctapp-2009.