Leone v. COM'R, BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES

933 N.E.2d 1244, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 520, 2010 WL 3528904
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 10, 2010
Docket49S02-0910-CV-505
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 933 N.E.2d 1244 (Leone v. COM'R, BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leone v. COM'R, BUREAU OF MOTOR VEHICLES, 933 N.E.2d 1244, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 520, 2010 WL 3528904 (Ind. 2010).

Opinion

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles notified almost 200,000 people that their driver's licenses and identification cards did not match their Social Security records. Within six months, more than three-quarters of these people had somehow corrected the discrepancies Appellants represent the subset of those remaining whose names did not match, about 15,000 people. They assert that the Bureau has overstepped its statutory authority by redefining the meaning of "legal name" to exclude anything but the name on file with the Social Security Administration. They sought a preliminary injunction, which the trial court denied. The trial court's con-elusion that the class has not shown a likelihood of success was not an abuse of discretion, so we affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

As the trial court found, in 2005 the Bureau of Motor Vehicles began using commercial databases to verify certain information received from individuals who applied for driver's licenses. That same year, the Bureau entered an agreement with the Social Security Administration for direct access to its records. The comparison procedure, used by at least forty-six other states and the District of Columbia, contains certain tolerances for minor inconsistencies such as transposed letters, extraneous letters, missing letters, and compound surnames. It also does not note an inconsistency where only an initial is provided for a first or middle name and the two surnames match exactly.

From May to October 2007, the Bureau compared its existing records with those of Social Security for verification. After receiving results from these comparisons, it sent letters to some 199,562 individuals with discrepancies in the person's name, gender, Social Security number, or birth date. The Bureau sent one of five letters depending on the nature of the inconsistency. The version sent to class members stated,

we received a message indicating your name in our records does not match what is on file with the SSA. This could have occurred because of a typographical error, the use of a nickname in one system and a birth name in the other, name change due to marriage, or other reasons.

(App. at 36.) All five versions of this first letter stated that "[flailure to update this information could result in the invalidation of your license or identification card." (App. at 36-40.) The letters outlined three methods to update the information within thirty days: through the Bureau's website, by mail with an included form, or by visiting a license branch. (App. at 36-40.)

In the paragraph explaining the license branch option, the letter sent to Appellants instructs them to bring "a certified copy of your birth certificate and any appropriate court papers documenting your full legal name, along with your Social Security *1247 Card, a Numident report issued by the SSA, or a verification letter from the SSA." 1 (App. at 10, 36.)

In December 2007 the Bureau again checked its records against the Social Security Administration's. It then sent a second set of letters to about 117,370 individuals who still had discrepancies. Regardless of the nature of their discrepancies, these recipients all received the same letter, which repeated the three methods of complying and stated that if they chose to update their information by visiting a branch, they should do so "with a certified copy of your birth certificate and any appropriate court papers documenting you[r] full legal name." (App. at 10, 41.) They also stated that if the recipients had not updated by a certain date, "your driver license or identification card must be invalidated." (App. at 41.)

The Bureau sent a final notice beginning on February 25, 2008, which stated, "pursuant to Indiana law, your driving privileges will be revoked ... until your ree-ords are successfully updated or the BMV receives a timely filed request for an administrative hearing as described below." (App. at 42.) The letter also said, "you may request the BMV to review this order by mailing your written request for an administrative hearing, postmarked up to 18 days after the date of this notice." (App. at 42.) Filing such a request would delay revocation until the administrative proceedings conclude, though the final notice did not so state. 2 As of April 8, 2008, the Bureau sent 41,236 people these final notices. Of these, 8422 had resolved these discrepancies by that date.

After the Bureau distributed the second letter, Lyn Leone filed suit pursuant to Indiana law and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on February 8, 2008. She also sought certification as a class action under Trial Rule 23(A) and (B)(2), a declaratory judgment that the Bureau's policy was unlawful, and a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the policy. Leone received one of the letters because her name appears as Mary Lyn Leone on her birth certificate and Social Security information, but she has used Lyn Leone all her adult life, including on her driver's license. (App. at 56-57.)

Two additional named plaintiffs subsequently joined the case. Omari Vaden has used his first name for twenty-five years, though his birth name is William Vaden. When Vaden first received an identification card from the Bureau, he completed an affidavit in which he swore he was not using the name Omari for fraudulent purposes. Vaden never notified Social Security of his name change, though he pays his taxes in the name of Omari Vaden, and his annual Social Security statements reflect this activity. The Bureau notified him that his identification card would be revoked because his name in its records does not match Social Security's records.

When appellant Catherine Goff married fifteen years ago, she adopted her husband's surname. Since then, she has consistently used the surname Goff, The Bureau issued Goff a license with that name. Her Social Security records show her *1248 name as Catherine Tabor, her name during a previous marriage. Apparently, Social Security informed her that to change her name, she would have to produce her birth certificate, her divorce decree, and her marriage license. (App. at 64.) She and the clerk's office in the county in which she was divorced have been unable to locate the divorce decree. 3 (App. at 64.) The class added Goff when Leone received notice that the Bureau restored Leone's Heense.

The court certified the class as

all persons who are currently threatened with invalidation of their BMV-issued drivers licenses or identification cards, or have had their licenses or identification invalidated, because there exists a discrepancy with their names on file with the BMV and their names on file with the Social Security Administration.

(App. at 75.) 4 The class represents 15,332 of the 41,236 final notice recipients, again relying on April 2008 figures, minus any who, like Leone, have somehow satisfied the Bureau since the notice.

After holding a hearing on the preliminary injunction, the court denied the class's motion on April 23, 2008.

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933 N.E.2d 1244, 2010 Ind. LEXIS 520, 2010 WL 3528904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leone-v-comr-bureau-of-motor-vehicles-ind-2010.