R. Cabon/Cabon's Central Auto Service v. PennDOT, Bureau of Motor Vehicles

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 17, 2016
Docket147 C.D. 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of R. Cabon/Cabon's Central Auto Service v. PennDOT, Bureau of Motor Vehicles (R. Cabon/Cabon's Central Auto Service v. PennDOT, Bureau of Motor Vehicles) 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
R. Cabon/Cabon's Central Auto Service v. PennDOT, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Robert Cabon/Cabon's Central : Auto Service, : Appellant : : v. : No. 147 C.D. 2016 : Submitted: August 12, 2016 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, : Department of Transportation, : Bureau of Motor Vehicles :

BEFORE: HONORABLE ROBERT SIMPSON, Judge HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge HONORABLE ROCHELLE S. FRIEDMAN, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE SIMPSON FILED: October 17, 2016

Robert Cabon/Cabon’s Central Auto Service (Cabon) asks whether the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) erred in dismissing its statutory appeal of two consecutive one-year suspensions of its Certificate of Appointment (Certificate) as an official emission inspection station as well as a fine of $5,000 imposed by the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Motor Vehicles (PennDOT). Cabon asserts the trial court’s decision is not supported by substantial evidence and the trial court erred as a matter of law. He also contends PennDOT did not follow required procedures to justify an order upholding the suspension and fines. Upon review, we affirm.

I. Background By official notice dated March 13, 2015, PennDOT notified Cabon of the imposition of two consecutive one-year suspensions of his Certificate and two fines of $2,500 each for: (1) furnishing, lending, giving, selling or receiving a certificate of inspection without inspection; and, (2) fraudulent recordkeeping. See Section 4724 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C.S. §4724.

Cabon appealed to the trial court. The Honorable Robert C. Gallo (now retired) held a hearing. After the hearing, Judge Gallo entered an order dismissing Cabon’s appeal. Cabon appealed to this Court, and the trial court directed it to file a concise statement of the errors complained of on appeal, which it did. The trial court, through Senior Judge Lester G. Nauhaus, then issued an opinion pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 1925(a), in which it set forth the following findings.

At the hearing, PennDOT presented the testimony of Quality Assurance Officer Aaron Dacko (QAO Dacko). QAO Dacko testified he was employed with Parsons Subcontracting (Parsons), through PennDOT, as a quality assurance officer for 10 years. He has also been certified by PennDOT as an official emissions inspector for 10 years. QAO Dacko conducts audits and investigates inspection emissions stations to ensure inspection stickers are properly issued. Tr. Ct. Hr’g, Notes of Testimony (N.T.), 10/8/15, at 8; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 8a.

An Onboard Diagnostic (OBD) test is required for emissions inspections on all vehicles with a model year of 1996 or newer. N.T. at 8-9; R.R. at 8a-9a. The specific requirements to properly perform the OBD test are found in 67 Pa. Code §177.203. The OBD test requires a station’s technician to plug a cable from an emissions analyzer into the vehicle being tested so that the vehicle

2 and the analyzer may communicate with each other. Id. The analyzer records the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle that receives the inspection sticker.

PennDOT investigated Cabon because its station number was listed on a monthly printout that showed six discrepancies between a) the VINs Cabon’s technicians inputted or scanned into the analyzer from information on the owner’s vehicle registration card, and b) the VINs from the vehicles that were actually connected to the analyzer. These VINs should match, and when they do not, that information is listed in the printout. N.T. at 9; R.R. at 9a.

The trial court explained the printout was Parson’s business record. Cabon objected to its admission, claiming it was a PennDOT record and there was no PennDOT witness present to testify. N.T. at 21; R.R. at 21a. The trial court explained it properly admitted the printout in light of QAO Dacko’s testimony that Parsons owns and operates the server that transmits all of the records from every emissions analyzer to Harrisburg. Parsons stores and processes all the data recorded from the analyzer for the printout. N.T. at 11; R.R. at 11a. Parsons does not provide the analyzers to inspection stations; rather, “[t]hey are independent analyzers and manufacturers.” N.T. at 27; R.R. at 27a. The printout contains a table that lists the make, year, model and VINs of vehicles from the vehicle owners’ registration cards, which are scanned or typed into the analyzer by the technician, and the OBD test VIN and model numbers of vehicles that are connected to the analyzer. The printout also contains the inspection station number, and the technician’s identification (ID) number. The technician ID

3 number indicates which technician entered his number into the analyzer to begin the emissions testing process. N.T. at 12; R.R. at 12a.

Cabon’s station number is 1449. The printout listed six vehicles for which Cabon’s station issued emissions inspection stickers in which there were discrepancies between the VINs Cabon’s technicians entered or scanned from the vehicle owners’ registration cards and the VINs recorded by the analyzer from the vehicles actually connected during the OBD test. In other words, relying on QAO Dacko’s testimony and its documentary evidence, including the monthly printout, PennDOT claimed Cabon issued emissions inspection stickers to six vehicles that did not undergo the required OBD emissions testing. As such, the printout listed six mismatches for Cabon’s station with two technician ID numbers.

Dan Kardell (Kardell) was the technician assigned to two of the vehicles; the other four vehicles used the technician ID number for the station’s owner, Robert Cabon. N.T. at 18-19.1 Kardell performed inspections for 17 years, and Robert Cabon performed inspections for 19 years. N.T. at 60-61; R.R. at 60a- 61a. Neither Kardell nor Robert Cabon was previously involved with an inspection station violation. Further, it was stipulated that Robert Cabon was recovering from surgery during the relevant period; thus, he was not personally

1 On direct examination, QAO Dacko testified Robert Cabon’s technician identification (ID) number was used in connection with four of the emissions inspections; however, on cross- examination, QAO Dacko acknowledged that Robert Cabon’s technician ID number was not the technician ID number used in connection with these four inspections. Tr. Ct. Hr’g, Notes of Testimony (N.T.), 10/8/15, at 18-19, 28-29; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 18a-19a, 28a-29a. Nevertheless, the printout described above identified Cabon as the official inspection station that performed these four inspections, R.R. at 151a, and Cabon did not deny that these four inspections were performed at its station.

4 involved in any of the inspections. N.T. at 38-39; R.R. at 38a-39a. For his part, Kardell denied that he ever connected the analyzer to a vehicle other than the one subject to inspection. N.T. at 39; R.R. at 39a.

Through Kardell’s testimony, Cabon asserted a defective analyzer probably caused the VIN mismatches. Kardell testified that numerous times daily the connection with the remote computer (the PennDOT computer) would terminate because the remote computer did not respond in a timely manner. N.T. at 42; R.R. at 42a. This would result in an error code. Kardell testified he previously observed a situation in which a VIN was in the analyzer and the error code appeared, which caused the same VIN to remain in the analyzer until it was cleared, and it could potentially remain there for the next vehicle tested. N.T. at 43-44; R.R. at 43a-44a.

In its Pa. R.A.P. 1925(b) Statement, Cabon claimed the trial court erred by finding in favor of PennDOT, asserting the trial court’s finding was against the weight of the evidence and the evidence was insufficient to sustain the trial court’s finding.

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Bluebook (online)
R. Cabon/Cabon's Central Auto Service v. PennDOT, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/r-caboncabons-central-auto-service-v-penndot-bureau-of-motor-vehicles-pacommwct-2016.