McLaughlin v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles

2 So. 3d 988, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 17549, 2008 WL 4891047
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 14, 2008
Docket2D07-4891
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2 So. 3d 988 (McLaughlin v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McLaughlin v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 2 So. 3d 988, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 17549, 2008 WL 4891047 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

WALLACE, Judge.

George F. McLaughlin petitions this court for a writ of certiorari to review a circuit court order that denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Mr. McLaughlin raises four issues in his petition. All of these issues are without merit because the circuit court applied the correct law, and we deny his petition. However, we write to address Mr. McLaughlin’s argument that the lawfulness of a driver’s arrest is relevant in a postsuspension hearing authorized by section 322.2615, Florida Statutes (2006).

I. BACKGROUND

On January 7, 2007, Mr. McLaughlin refused to submit to a breath, urine, or blood test after he was arrested for driving under the influence, a violation of section 316.193, Florida Statutes (2006). Consequently, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) suspended his driver’s license for one year.

Mr. McLaughlin exercised his right to formal review as authorized by section *990 322.2615(l)(b)(3), Florida Statutes (2006), and challenged the suspension of his license. At the hearing, Mr. McLaughlin moved to invalidate the suspension based on the unlawfulness of his arrest. The hearing officer explained that section 322.2615(7)(b) did not authorize him to address the lawfulness of the arrest. The hearing officer’s written decision denied Mr. McLaughlin’s motion without further explanation.

Mr. McLaughlin challenged the hearing officer’s written decision by petition for writ of certiorari in the circuit court. Mr. McLaughlin argued that section 322.2615 conflicted with section 316.1932, because the latter did not require that a driver submit to a breath, blood, or urine test unless he or she was first lawfully arrested. He also claimed that the Florida Administrative Code had not been amended to indicate that a hearing officer could not consider the lawfulness of the arrest in a postsuspension hearing. 1 The DHSMV contended that the plain language of the statute indicated that the legislature’s intent was to make the lawfulness of the arrest a relevant factor in criminal proceedings under section 316.1932 but not in postsuspension administrative hearings authorized by section 322.2615.

The circuit court entered an order denying Mr. McLaughlin’s petition because “based on the scope of the hearing officer’s review, as authorized by the Legislature, the hearing officer followed the essential requirements of the law.” McLaughlin v. Fla. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 14 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1084a (Fla. 10th Cir.Ct. Sep. 18, 2007). Mr. McLaughlin timely petitioned this court for certiorari review of the circuit court’s order.

II. JURISDICTION

As a preliminary matter, we note that Mr. McLaughlin’s license was suspended for one year beginning January 7, 2007. This suspension expired on January 6, 2008. For this reason, Mr. McLaughlin’s petition for writ of certiorari is moot. But “mootness does not destroy a court’s jurisdiction if the question raised is of great public importance or is likely to recur, or if the error is capable of repetition yet evading review.” Kelley v. Rice, 800 So.2d 247, 250 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (citations omitted). Mr. McLaughlin’s petition presents a question that is likely to recur. See Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Pelham, 979 So.2d 304 (Fla. 5th DCA) (ruling on the same question), review denied, 984 So.2d 519 (Fla.2008). Accordingly, this court has jurisdiction to hear the merits even if the petition is moot. See Enter. Leasing Co. v. Jones, 789 So.2d 964, 965-66 (Fla.2001).

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Certiorari is the proper remedy to seek review of an administrative order sustaining the suspension of a driver’s license. § 322.2615(13). On second-tier certiorari review, our scope of review is limited to determining whether the circuit court (1) afforded procedural due process and (2) applied the correct law. Dep’t of Highway Safety Motor Vehicles v. DeGroot, 971 So.2d 237, 239 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008). This two-part analysis is “simply another way of *991 deciding whether the lower court ‘departed from the essential requirements of [the] law.’ ” Miami-Dade County v. Omnipoint Holdings, Inc., 863 So.2d 195, 199 (Fla.2003) (quoting Haines City Cmty. Dev. v. Heggs, 658 So.2d 523, 530 (Fla.1995)). “A ruling constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of [the] law when it amounts to ‘a violation of a clearly established principle of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice.’ ” Id. (quoting Tedder v. Fla. Parole Comm’n, 842 So.2d 1022, 1024 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)); see State v. Farino, 915 So.2d 685, 686 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (explaining that failure to apply the correct law must result in a miscarriage of justice to warrant the issuance of a writ of certiorari).

IV. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

Mr. McLaughlin’s petition for second-tier certiorari contends that the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of the law because Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984), State, Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Pipkin, 927 So.2d 901 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005), and the applicable version of the Florida Administrative Code require that a driver submit to a breath, blood, or urine test only if he or she was first lawfully arrested. Mr. McLaughlin has not claimed that the circuit court’s decision deprived him of procedural due process. Consequently, this court may not grant relief unless the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of the law with a resulting miscarriage of justice. See Dep’t of Highway Safety Motor Vehicles v. Alliston, 813 So.2d 141, 144 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002).

V. THE SCOPE OF THE HEARING OFFICER’S REVIEW UNDER SECTION 322.2615

The circuit court’s denial of Mr. McLaughlin’s petition for certiorari review did not depart from the essential requirements of the law because the circuit court applied the correct law. As the supreme court stated in Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217 (Fla.1984), “ ‘[w]hen the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous and conveys a clear and definite meaning, there is no occasion for resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation and construction; the statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning.’” Id. at 219 (alteration in original) (quoting A.R. Douglass, Inc. v. McRainey, 102 Fla. 1141, 137 So. 157, 159 (1931)). Courts are “ ‘without power to construe an unambiguous statute in a way which would extend, modify, or limit, its express terms or its reasonable and obvious implications. To do so would be an abrogation of legislative power.’ ” Id. (emphasis omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
2 So. 3d 988, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 17549, 2008 WL 4891047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclaughlin-v-department-of-highway-safety-motor-vehicles-fladistctapp-2008.