Meade v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation

813 A.2d 937, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 976
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 10, 2002
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 813 A.2d 937 (Meade v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meade v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, 813 A.2d 937, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 976 (Pa. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Senior Judge JIULIANTE.

Before the Court are the preliminary objections of the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (Bureau), to an action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief filed by David H. Meade, a pro se litigant. For the reasons that follow, we sustain the Bureau’s preliminary objections and dismiss Meade’s petition.

On October 16,1997, Meade was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), a violation of Section 3731(a)(1) of the Vehicle Code (Code), 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a)(1), for an offense that occurred on May 31, 1993. By official notice dated November 10, 1997, the Bureau advised Meade that as a result of his DUI conviction, his operating privilege was being suspended pursuant to Section 1532(b) of the Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1532(b), for a period of one year, effective December 15,1997.

Meade appealed the suspension to the common pleas court. On March 25, 1999, the common pleas court entered an order of withdrawal of Meade’s appeal. On April 13, 1999, Meade appealed the common pleas court’s order to this Court, but did not seek a stay of the suspension. On August 16, 1999, this Court dismissed Meade’s appeal due to his failure to file a brief in a timely manner. Meade did not seek reconsideration or appeal from that order.

By official notice dated April 14, 1999, DOT notified Meade that his operating privilege would be suspended beginning May 19, 1999 as a result of his October 16, 1997 DUI conviction. Meade, however, never surrendered his license to the Bureau.

Rather, on May 17, 2002, Meade filed in this Court a “Petition for Review in the Form of a Complaint for Declaratory Judgment and a Prayer for Injunctive Relief’ (Complaint) seeking a declaration that his operating privilege was restored by operation of law, as well as injunctive relief enjoining the Bureau from enforcing its suspension of Meade’s operating privilege and directing that said privilege be reinstated pending the outcome of the Complaint. Meade also alleges that Section 1541(a) of the Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1541(a), violates his right to equal protection of the laws and is unconstitutionally vague on its face.

The Bureau filed preliminary objections asserting that Meade does not have a clear right to either the declaratory judgment or the injunctive relief he requested inasmuch as: (a) he failed to comply with Section 1541 of the Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1541, by failing to surrender either his driver’s license or an affidavit in lieu thereof; and (b) he failed to exhaust his administrative remedies by failing to seek credit through an administrative hearing under 67 Pa.Code §§ 491.1— 491.13. The Bureau further asserts that Meade has failed to state a claim with respect to his argument that Section 1541(a) of the Code is unconstitutionally vague on its face or that it violates his right to equal protection of the laws.

In his response to the Bureau’s preliminary objections, Meade requests that this Court declare that his operating privilege has been restored by operation of law because the statutorily-prescribed, one-year period of the suspension contained in the Bureau’s notice of suspension has passed. In support of his position, Meade cites Rossi v. Department of Transportation, [940]*940Bureau of Driver Licensing, 798 A.2d 801 (Pa.Cmwlth.2002), where this Court recognized that where the statutorily-prescribed period of suspension of the-licensee’s operating privilege had expired, the licensee’s operating privilege was no longer under suspension even if the licensee had not paid a $25.00 restoration fee.

Meade also cites Rossi in support of his equal protection argument. Meade claims that Section 1541 of the Code, which provides that no credit for a suspension shall be given until the license is surrendered, results in some licensees’ operating privileges being suspended for longer periods of time than others.

In ruling on preliminary objections, this Court must accept as fact all well-pleaded material allegations, as well as all inferences that can be reasonably deduced therefrom. Envirotest Partners v. Department of Transportation, 664 A.2d 208 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995). However, we need not accept as true conclusions of law, argumentative allegations or expressions of opinion. Id. In order to sustain preliminary objections, it must be clear that the law will not permit recovery and if any doubt exists, the objections should not be sustained. Id.

I.

We will first examine the Bureau’s preliminary objection asserting that Meade has no clear right to either the declaratory judgment or the injunctive relief he requested because he has failed to comply with the requirement in Section 1541(a) of the Code that he surrender his driver’s license to the Bureau in order for the period of suspension to commence. Section 1541(a) provides:

(a) Commencement of period. — The period of disqualification, revocation or suspension of the operating privilege ... shall commence as provided for in section 1540 (relating to surrender of license). No credit toward the revocation, suspension or disqualification shall be earned until the driver’s license is surrendered to the department, the court or the district attorney, as the case may be .... If a licensed driver is not in possession of his driver’s license, no credit toward the disqualification, revocation or suspension shall be earned until a sworn affidavit or a form prescribed by the department is surrendered to the department swearing that the driver is not in possession of his driver’s license. Such credit shall be rescinded if it is later determined that the driver was untruthful in the affidavit. ■ Credit shall also be revoked if a person surrenders a duplicate license and it is later determined that the person was still in possession of an earlier issued, unexpired license....

75 Pa.C.S. § 1541(a) (emphasis added).

In the present case, it is an undisputed fact that Meade never surrendered his driver’s license as required by Section 1541(a). In Swoyer v. Department of Transportation, 156 Pa.Cmwlth. 1, 626 A.2d 1247 (1991), this Court rejected a licensee’s argument that he was entitled to éleven months’ credit where he did not surrender his license. In Swoyer, we noted that the licensee’s physical surrender of the license “prescribes the method of computation by which termination of the suspension is established.” Id. at 1251.

Moreover, our decision in Rossi did not relieve the licensee of his obligation under Section 1541(a) of the Code to surrender his license in order for the period of suspension to commence. In Rossi, this Court noted that the licensee testified in her statutory appeal that she surrendered her license prior to August 31, 1999 and that she did not operate a motor vehicle [941]*941during the period of August 31 through September 30, 1999, thereby serving her two fifteen-day suspensions.

Nowhere in Rossi

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Bluebook (online)
813 A.2d 937, 2002 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meade-v-commonwealth-department-of-transportation-pacommwct-2002.