Heart v. Fletcher

184 Misc. 659, 53 N.Y.S.2d 369, 1945 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1518
New York Supreme Court·Decided February 20, 1945·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Cribb, J.

On October 6, 1944, a boy riding a bicycle was injured in a collision with an automobile owned and operated by petitioner. Petitioner’s automobile was properly licensed and he held an operator’s license. Petitioner did not carry liability insurance. He filed a report of the accident with the respondent, New York State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. By notice of suspension, dated November 22, 1944, pursuant to provisions of section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, petitioner was ordered by respondent to submit evidence of insurance at the date of the accident, and, if not insured at the time of the accident: (a) To deposit cash, certified check or security bond or negotiable security in the amount of $1,100 as security to cover any judgment arising out of the accident, or a general release for damages from all aggrieved parties; and (b) to furnish proof of financial responsibility for the future.

Petitioner brings on this proceeding under article 78 of the Civil Practice Act seeking an order (1) declaring unconstitutional section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law on the ground that the requirement of the law and the order of the respondent issued pursuant thereto rescinding petitioner’s motor vehicle license and registration deprived petitioner of his property and property rights without due process of law and in violation of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the third paragraph of section 6 of article I of the New York State Constitution or (2) if that be denied, [661]*661reviewing the action of respondent fixing the amount of security petitioner was directed to deposit to satisfy any judgment for damages resulting from the accident, upon the grounds that such amount so fixed is excessive.

By the show cause order initiating this proceeding the respondent was stayed from taking any action in the matter until the determination of this motion.

The provisions of section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law which are before the court on the question of constitutionality read as follows: Subdivision (a): “ Not less than ten days nor more than sixty days after receipt by him of the report or notice of an accident which has resulted in bodily injury or death, or in damage to the property of any one person in excess of twenty-five dollars, the commissioner shall forthwith suspend the license of any person operating, and the registration certificates and registration plates of any person owning, a motor vehicle in any manner involved in such accident unless and until such operator (or chauffeur) or owner or bo4h shall have previously furnished or immediately furnishes security sufficient in the judgment of the commissioner to satisfy any judgment or judgments for damages resulting from such accident as may be recovered against such owner or operator (or chauffeur) by or on behalf of any aggrieved person or his legal representative, and unless and until such owner or operator (or chauffeur) or both shall immediately furnish and thereafter maintain proof of financial responsibility in the future. This section shall not apply: (1) to such owner or operator (or chauffeur) if such owner had in effect at the time of such accident with respect to such motor vehicle a standard provisions automobile liability policy * * Subdivision (b): “Such security, where ordered, shall be in such form and in such amount as the commissioner may require, but in no case in excess of the amount of proof required by section ninety-four-I of this article. The commissioner may reduce the amount of security ordered in any case within six months after the date of the accident if, in his judgment, the amount ordered is too large.”

The amount specified in the notice of suspension to petitioner herein to be deposited as security was calculated on the basis of the report of the physician attending the injured boy, the accident report filed by petitioner as required by section 94-f of the Vehicle and Traffic Law and the report of the evaluator in the employ of the State Motor Vehicle Bureau. The last mentioned report was based upon the above-mentioned physician’s report and the accident report as filed.

[662]*662Petitioner complied with paragraph (b) of the notice of suspension by furnishing proof of financial responsibility for the future, but alleges his inability to comply with paragraph (a) of such notice, i.e., to deposit security in the amount of $1,100.

Petitioner argues that the portions of section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law above quoted are unconstitutional because his operator’s license and certificate of registration of his automobile were issued to him by the State for a valuable consideration — the license and registration fees — and constitute property rights of which he may not be deprived without a notice and a hearing, i.e., due process of law.

Since the advent of the automobile the courts, legislators and the public have recognized that the operation of motor-driven vehicles upon the public highways creates a potential danger to the operators and occupants of such vehicles and also to other users of the highways. Because of this potential danger the Legislature from time to time has enacted laws providing certain requirements to be met before a person may operate such vehicles on the public highways as well as others which must be observed thereafter- in exercising the privilege as granted. That the license to operate a motor vehicle is a privilege which might be denied, rather than a right, seems to have been established by the courts in the early days of the automobile. (See People v. Rosenheimer, 209 N. Y. 115, 121, and cases cited.) An applicant for a license to operate an automobile or for registration of the same is presumed to know the law. “ Exceptional principles apply to callings of such a nature that one may be excluded from them altogether. Of these it may be true that by engaging in them at all, one accepts the accompanying conditions ” (People ex rel. Price v. Sheffield Farms Co., 225 N. Y. 25, 33). And so the petitioner herein applied, and paid the required fees, for a license to operate his automobile, and also for its registration plates, but the provisions of section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law here under consideration constituted notice to him of the conditions upon which he might exercise the privilege accorded him—including the right of the commissioner to suspend his operator’s license and his registration certificate and registration plates upon the happening of designated contingencies. (See Fougera & Co., v. City of New York, 224 N. Y. 269, 279; Town of Waterford, v. Brockett Lumber Co., Inc., 227 App. Div. 422, 424.)

The payment by the petitioner of the required fees upon the issuance to him of the operator’s license and registration certifi[663]*663cate did not convert the privilege granted into a property right of which he might not be deprived without a notice and hearing, i.e., due process of lav/. The privilege was granted subject to the terms of prescribed statutory conditions of which section 94-e of the Vehicle and Traffic Law was a part. In Reitz v. Mealey (314 U. S. 33, 36), the court said: Any appropriate means adopted by the states to insure competence and care on the part of its licensees and to protect others using the highways is consonant with due process.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Heart v. Fletcher, 184 Misc. 659, 53 N.Y.S.2d 369, 1945 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1518 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1945).

184 Misc. 659 (Heart v. Fletcher) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Suchocki
57 Misc. 2d 26 (Nassau County District Court, 1968)
State v. Finley
426 P.2d 251 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1967)
Adams v. City of Pocatello
416 P.2d 46 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1966)
Schecter v. Killingsworth
380 P.2d 136 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1963)
People v. Benzel
10 Misc. 2d 963 (New York Supreme Court, 1958)
Sturgill v. Beard
303 S.W.2d 908 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1957)
Cadieux v. Macduff
1 A.D.2d 360 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1956)
Schutt v. Macduff
205 Misc. 43 (New York Supreme Court, 1954)
Gillaspie v. Department of Public Safety
259 S.W.2d 177 (Texas Supreme Court, 1953)
State v. Stehlek
56 N.W.2d 514 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1953)
Wall v. King
109 F. Supp. 198 (D. Massachusetts, 1952)
Ballow v. Reeves
238 S.W.2d 141 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1951)