Hoyt v. Director of Revenue

37 S.W.3d 356, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1895, 2000 WL 1846201
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 19, 2000
DocketNo. WD 57908
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 37 S.W.3d 356 (Hoyt v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoyt v. Director of Revenue, 37 S.W.3d 356, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1895, 2000 WL 1846201 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

HOWARD, Judge.

Michael Hoyt appeals from the circuit court’s judgment sustaining the Director of Revenue’s revocation of his driver’s license. Hoyt contends that the circuit court erred in entering judgment in favor of the Director because 1) the definition of “driving” in § 577.001.11 requires more than “actual physical control” of a vehicle; and 2) based on the uncontroverted facts, the evidence merely established that Hoyt was in actual physical control of the vehicle, and did not establish that he was physically driving.

We affirm.

Facts

On March 7, 1999, Derek M. Bruns, a police officer for the City of Cameron, Missouri, received a dispatch that an intoxicated man was sitting in his vehicle in front of My Store, a convenience store. Within three minutes of receiving the dispatch, Officer Bruns arrived at the store and observed the vehicle in the parking lot. Bruns testified that Michael Hoyt was sitting behind the steering wheel with the engine running and the transmission in park.

Hoyt told Bruns that he was waiting for a friend who was inside the convenience [358]*358store. Bruns observed that Hoyt’s speech was slurred and his eyes were glassy. Bruns also smelled a strong odor of intoxicants coming from Hoyt. Bruns asked Hoyt if he had had anything to drink that evening, and Hoyt stated that he had one beer. Bruns testified that he “didn’t recognize any one that belonged to Mr. Hoyt inside the store.” Bruns observed Hoyt trying to conceal a quart bottle of beer during their conversation.

Hoyt turned off the car’s engine and got out of the vehicle. Bruns administered four field sobriety tests, three of which Hoyt failed. Bruns arrested Hoyt for driving while intoxicated. Hoyt submitted to a chemical test of his breath, which indicated a result of .154 percent.

The Director of Revenue revoked Hoyt’s driver’s license. Hoyt filed a petition for trial de novo in the Circuit Court of Clinton County. Following a hearing on his petition, the circuit court held that “based upon a preponderance of the evidence Petitioner is found to have been arrested upon probable cause to believe Petitioner was driving a motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration in his/her blood was .10% or more by weight.” The circuit court upheld the revocation of Hoyt’s driver’s license. This appeal follows.

Standard of Review

“A trial court’s judgment in a driver’s license suspension or revocation case must be affirmed on review, unless there is no substantial evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence, or it erroneously declares or applies the law.” Soval v. Director of Revenue, 2 S.W.3d 854, 856 (Mo.App. W.D.1999). “We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment.” Knipp v. Director of Revenue, 984 S.W.2d 147, 150 (Mo.App. W.D.1998).

Point I

Hoyt’s first point on appeal is that the circuit court erred when it entered judgment in favor of the Director, expressly finding that based on a preponderance of the evidence, Hoyt was arrested upon probable cause to believe that he was driving a motor vehicle while his blood alcohol concentration was .10 percent or more by weight, and implicitly finding that the definition of “driving” included actual physical control as set forth in the municipal ordinance. Hoyt argues that the term “driving” is not specifically defined under §§ 302.500 to 302.545 RSMo. Rather, the definition is controlled by § 577.001.1, which defines “driving” as “physically driving or operating a motor vehicle” and excludes being in actual physical control of a vehicle.

Section 302.505.12 provides as follows:

The department shall suspend or revoke the license of any person upon its determination that the person was arrested upon probable cause to believe such person was driving a motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration in the person’s blood, breath, or urine was ten-hundredths of one percent or more by weight, based on the definition of alcohol concentration in section 302.500, or where such person was less than twenty-one years of age when stopped and was stopped upon probable cause to believe such person was driving while intoxicated in violation of section 577.010, RSMo, or driving with excessive blood alcohol content in violation of section 577.012, RSMo, or upon probable cause to believe such person violated a state, county or municipal traffic offense and such person was driving with a blood alcohol content of two-hundredths of one percent or more by weight.

“Section 302.505.1 does not define the term ‘driving.’ However, the case law has applied the definition of ‘driving’ set forth in § 577.001.1, the analogous criminal DWI statute, when considering license suspension or revocation eases under [359]*359§ 302.505.1.” Weiland v. Director of Revenue, 32 S.W.3d 628, 630 (Mo.App.W.D.2000), citing Krienke v. Lohman, 963 S.W.2d 11, 12 (Mo.App. W.D.1998), and Chinnery v. Director of Revenue, 885 S.W.2d 50, 52 (Mo.App. W.D.1994).

Section 577.001.1 provides that “[a]s used in this chapter, the term ‘drive’,' ‘driving’, ‘operates’ or ‘operating’ means physically driving or operating a motor vehicle.” Prior to 1996, the definition of the terms in § 577.001.1 RSMo 1994 included “being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle.” However, in 1996, “being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle” was deleted from the statute. “[A]s a result of the 1996 changes to the definitions of ‘driving’ and ‘operating,’ being in ‘actual physical control’ of a vehicle no longer constitutes ‘driving’ or ‘operating.’ ” Weiland, at 630 (footnote omitted); see also State v. Cross, 34 S.W.3d 175, 181 n. 14 (Mo.App.W.D.2000).

Hoyt argues that he was arrested pursuant to the Cameron DWI ordinance, and that arguably that ordinance allows a person to be convicted of driving while intoxicated if he “is in actual physical control of a vehicle” while intoxicated. However, as we recently held in Weiland, at 630 n. 1, “to the extent an ordinance could be read to make it a crime to be in ‘actual physical control’ of a vehicle while having a blood alcohol level of .10% or higher by weight, an act which the Missouri legislature has determined no longer constitutes an offense, that ordinance must be considered null and void.” Also, as noted in Weiland, at 630 n. 1, Hoyt’s argument concerning the Cameron ordinance does not affect our analysis because under the express language of § 302.505.1, a finding that the licensee was “driving” is necessary regardless of the statute or ordinance under which the licensee was arrested.

Point I is granted to the extent that it contends that merely being in actual physical control of a vehicle no longer constitutes “driving” under § 302.505.1. The point is denied to the extent that it contends that the circuit court erred in entering judgment in favor of the Director.

Point II

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Related

Cox v. Director of Revenue
98 S.W.3d 548 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2003)
Phillips v. Wilson
66 S.W.3d 176 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
37 S.W.3d 356, 2000 Mo. App. LEXIS 1895, 2000 WL 1846201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoyt-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-2000.