Long v. Director of Revenue

819 S.W.2d 784, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 1876, 1991 WL 262482
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 13, 1991
DocketNo. 17239
StatusPublished

This text of 819 S.W.2d 784 (Long 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
Long v. Director of Revenue, 819 S.W.2d 784, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 1876, 1991 WL 262482 (Mo. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PARRISH, Judge.

The Director of Revenue of the State of Missouri (the Director) appeals a judgment directing him to give respondent credit for 44 days on the suspension of respondent’s driving privilege. This court reverses.

Cecil Woodrow Long, respondent in this appeal, was arrested June 4, 1989, and charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI). § 577.010.1 Long was administered a breathalyzer test. The test results revealed an alcohol concentration of more than .13 of 1% by weight. Long also failed to produce an insurance identification card as required by § 303.024.5. The following is a chronology of events relevant to the suspension of Long’s driving privilege.

. Date Occurrence
June 19-July 19, 1989 Long’s driving privilege suspended, administratively, because of his arrest upon probable cause to believe that he was driving a motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration in his breath was .13 of 1%. § 302.505.
July 19, 1989 Director received $20 reinstatement fee with respect to the administrative suspension of Long’s driving privilege. § 302.304.11, RSMo Supp.1989.
July 21, 1989 Director received a certificate of insurance (a form “SR-22”) on behalf of Long. §§ 302.304.3, RSMo Supp.1989, and 303.044.
July 24-Sept. 24,1989 Long’s driving privilege suspended for operating a motor vehicle without maintaining financial responsibility. §§ 303.025, .041 and .042.
October 12, 1989 Director received $200 reinstatement fee with reference to the suspension of Long’s driving privilege for operating a motor vehicle without maintaining financial responsibility. § 303.043(1).
November 3, 1989 Director received evidence that Long had completed an Alcohol Related Traffic Offender Program (ARTOP). § 302.540.
November 6, 1989 Long’s driving privilege reinstated.
April 5, 1990 Long convicted in the Circuit Court of Bollinger County for the driving while intoxicated offense that occurred June 4, 1989. § 577.010. Long’s driver’s license revoked upon the assessment of twelve points for a second conviction of driving while intoxicated.2 §§ 302.302.1(8) and 302.304.6, RSMo Supp.1989.3 Long’s driver’s license was revoked for one year (365 days) with credit for the 30-day administrative suspension he had received. § 302.525.4.

Long appealed the 335-day revocation imposed by the Director for the DWI con[786]*786viction by filing a petition for review in the Circuit Court of Bollinger County. § 536.-110. The basis for that appeal was a claim by Long that “as a result of [the June 4, 1989] stopping an [sic] arrest [for DWI],” his driving privilege was suspended for more than the 35 days for which he was allowed credit. He sought credit for an additional 42 days against the period of revocation that resulted from his DWI conviction.

When Long was arrested June 4, 1989, the Highway Patrol erroneously filed two reports that Long was driving his automobile without the required proof of financial responsibility. § 303.024.5. One report was dated June 4, 1989; the other June 5, 1989. Based upon the first report, the Director correctly suspended Long’s driving privilege for 60 days. § 303.042.2(1). However, upon receiving the second report — the one dated June 5, 1989, that was erroneously filed — the Director again suspended Long’s driving privilege for an additional one year based upon the belief that Long had a prior suspension for failure to maintain the required financial responsibility. § 303.042.2(2). Thereafter, upon the Highway Patrol and the Director being shown that their records were in error, the records were corrected. On November 6, 1989, Long’s driving privilege was reinstated.

Long contended, before the trial court, that he should have been eligible to receive his driver’s license on September 23, 1989, but that he was prevented from having his driver’s privilege restored until November 6,1989, because of errors committed by the Highway Patrol and the Department of Revenue. He contended that he was entitled to a credit on the period for which his driver’s license was revoked for 42 days— file time for which his driver’s privilege was erroneously suspended. The trial court found for Long and ordered the Director to give Long credit for an additional 44 days on Long’s revocation that resulted from Long’s DWI conviction.4

The Director contends the trial court “lacked subject matter jurisdiction” in ordering that Long be granted 44 days’ credit on Long’s present revocation because “there was no statutory authority to reduce the time period of the revocation for excessive accumulation of points.” The Director relies upon Brown v. Director of Revenue, 772 S.W.2d 398 (Mo.App.1989), as authority for this point. The Director also argues that Long had not complied with all requirements for reinstatement until November 3, 1989, regardless of the erroneous second notice of failure to maintain financial responsibility that the Highway Patrol filed.

Brown involved an arrest for driving while intoxicated. The person arrested refused to submit to a chemical test to determine blood alcohol content. Based upon that refusal, the Director issued an order, pursuant to § 577.041, revoking Brown’s driving privilege for one year.5 Approximately eleven months after Brown’s arrest, he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. The Director assessed twelve points against his driving privilege, § 302.302.1(8) (he had a prior BAC conviction), and ordered Brown’s driver’s license revoked for one year. The revocation period that was based upon the accumulation of points was in addition to the revocation period that was based upon Brown’s refusal to submit to a chemical test. A petition for review was filed in circuit court seeking an allowance of credit for the first revocation period, the one that was based upon Brown’s [787]*787refusal to take chemical tests. Alternatively, the petition for review asked for a determination that the two periods of revocation “[had] been concurrent.” 772 S.W.2d at 399. The circuit court concluded that "both periods of revocation were the result of events that occurred from the same arrest” and granted the relief that was sought. The Western District of this court reversed for the reason that the applicable statute, § 302.304.6, required the Director to revoke a driver's license when a person's driving record “shows he has accumulated twelve points in twelve months.” The court said, “[T]here is no discretion on the part of the Director to do anything but revoke the driving privileges when the driver has accumulated 12 points in 12 months, which is the case here.” Id. at 400. It held:

The circuit court had no jurisdiction or authority to render a judgment ordering the test refusal revocation to be credited to the 12-point revocation which resulted from the driving while intoxicated conviction. Nor did [the circuit court] have authority to order the Director to alter the record to show that the two periods of revocation were concurrent.

Id. at 401.

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Related

Murphy v. Carron
536 S.W.2d 30 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1976)
Brown v. Director of Revenue
772 S.W.2d 398 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
819 S.W.2d 784, 1991 Mo. App. LEXIS 1876, 1991 WL 262482, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-director-of-revenue-moctapp-1991.