Headen v. Motor Vehicle Administration

16 A.3d 196, 418 Md. 559, 2011 Md. LEXIS 151
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 28, 2011
Docket42, September Term, 2009
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 16 A.3d 196 (Headen 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
Headen v. Motor Vehicle Administration, 16 A.3d 196, 418 Md. 559, 2011 Md. LEXIS 151 (Md. 2011).

Opinions

BARBERA, J.

Resolution of this case requires us to construe several provisions of the Transportation Article of the Maryland Code (1977, 2009 RepLVol.) (hereafter “TR”). The first of those is TR § 16-117.1, which provides in relevant part that, upon satisfaction of certain requirements, a licensee may “appl[y] for the expungement of the licensee’s public driving record.” We must decide how that section is to be applied, given a separate provision of that subtitle, TR § 12-lll(b)(2), which authorizes the MVA to maintain “confidential” records. We also must interpret TR § 16-103.1(1), which provides in relevant part that the MVA “may not” issue a driver’s license to an individual whose privilege to drive is “revoked, suspended, refused, or canceled in this or any other state[.]” And, we must decide whether a licensee who is disqualified for licensure under TR § 16-103.1(1) is entitled to an administrative hearing.

For the reasons that follow, we hold that TR § 16-117.1, the expungement provision, when read in harmony with TR § 12-lll(b)(2), authorizes the MVA, after five years, to remove from a licensee’s public driving record any record of drunken driving convictions and probation before judgment dispositions, rendering the records of those convictions and dispositions no longer part of the licensee’s public driving record and therefore not subject to expungement. We further hold that the MVA properly denies an individual’s application for a driver’s license without an administrative hearing when the applicant’s driver’s license is suspended, revoked, refused, or canceled in another state. That is so even if the MVA, [563]*563through mistake or oversight, has previously granted the individual a Maryland driver’s license.

Petitioner Thomas Headen’s record of drunken driving offenses spans three decades and involves drunken driving dispositions in two states, Maryland and Florida. In Maryland, Petitioner was convicted in 1976, 1978, and 1982 of driving while impaired by or under the influence of alcohol. In 1993, he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and received probation before judgment.

In October 1994, Petitioner moved to Florida and was issued a Florida driver’s license. As required by that state’s law, Petitioner surrendered his Maryland license. See Fla. Stat. Ann. § 322.03(l)(b) (LexisNexis 2011). Nine months later, Petitioner was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol. Pursuant to Florida’s administrative process (analogous to Maryland’s administrative process, set forth in TR § 16-205. 1), Petitioner’s license was suspended administratively for one year upon his refusal to submit to an alcohol concentration test. In September 1995, a Florida court convicted him of driving under the influence of alcohol. Pursuant to Florida law, the court ordered the permanent revocation of Petitioner’s Florida license.1

Petitioner later returned to Maryland and, in 2001, applied for a Maryland driver’s license. On November 1, 2001, the MVA summarily denied the application, in light of the permanent revocation of Petitioner’s Florida driver’s license. The MVA’s action was based on Article V, subsection (2) of the Driver License Compact (“the Compact”), and TR § 16-103.1(1). The Compact, which is codified at TR § 16-703, provides in relevant part: “The licensing authority in the state where application is made shall not issue a license to drive to [564]*564the applicant if: ... (2) The applicant has held such a license, but the same has been revoked by reason, in whole or in part, of a violation and if such revocation has not terminated, except that after the expiration of 1 year from the date the license was revoked, such person may make application for a new license if permitted by law.”2 TR § 16-103.1(1) prohibits the MVA from issuing a license “[d]uring any period for which the individual’s license to drive is revoked ... in this or any other state.”3

Petitioner requested and was granted an administrative hearing to challenge the MVA’s summary denial of his license application. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) disagreed [565]*565with the MVA’s interpretation of the Compact and ordered the MVA to “process [Petitioner’s] application for a driver’s license, and conduct an appropriate investigation to determine whether it is safe to grant [Petitioner] a Maryland driver’s license.” The MVA did not seek judicial review of the ALJ’s decision. On March 8, 2002, the MVA issued Petitioner a “Maryland Only” license. See TR § 16-113(e).

Three years later, this Court issued its opinion in Gwin v. Motor Vehicle Admin., 385 Md. 440, 869 A.2d 822 (2005). We held in Gwin that the plain language of TR § 16-103.1 prohibits the MVA from issuing a driver’s license to an individual whose driving privileges, at the time of application, have been suspended or revoked by any jurisdiction. We explained why:

[T]here is no conflict between [TR § 16-103.1], which permits the MVA to deny a driver’s license to an individual whose driver’s license has been revoked in Maryland or any other state, and the Driver License Compact.... The clear legislative intent of these two statutes indicates that Maryland law recognizes extraterritorial license revocations and the MVA is not permitted to issue a license to an individual whose license has been permanently revoked in another jurisdiction, even after a period of one year of the revocation.

Id. at 445, 869 A.2d at 824 (citation omitted).

On November 15, 2006, the day that Petitioner’s “Maryland Only” driver’s license was to expire, Petitioner applied for renewal of it. The MVA summarily denied the application. Petitioner spoke by telephone to MVA officials, seeking an explanation for the summary denial. He later memorialized that conversation in a letter to the MVA dated January 31, 2007.

The MVA responded to Petitioner’s correspondence by letter dated February 13, 2007. The MVA advised Petitioner that the permanent revocation of his Florida driver’s license automatically disqualified him from renewing his Maryland license, pursuant to TR § 16-103.1(1). The MVA further advised Petitioner that, because he was automatically disquali[566]*566fied, he was not entitled to a hearing to contest the MVA’s denial of his application for license renewal.

Petitioner, evidently in an attempt to remove from his driving record the Maryland drunken driving convictions that precipitated the permanent revocation of his license in Florida, applied for expungement of his Maryland driving record, pursuant to TR § 16-117.1. By letter dated June 20, 2007, the MVA notified Petitioner that it had expunged certain of Petitioner’s driving records by removing several motor vehicle violations and various other notations. The MVA, however, did not expunge any of Petitioner’s 1976, 1978, and 1982 Maryland drunken driving convictions or his 1993 probation before judgment.

By letter dated August 20, 2007, Petitioner, through counsel, sought a hearing on the MVA’s refusal to renew Petitioner’s license and “failure to expunge [Petitioner’s] driving record pursuant to his request under [TR] § 16-117.1.” The MVA responded by letter dated May 1, 2008, explaining that, under Gwin, 385 Md.

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Headen v. Motor Vehicle Administration
16 A.3d 196 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
16 A.3d 196, 418 Md. 559, 2011 Md. LEXIS 151, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/headen-v-motor-vehicle-administration-md-2011.