State, Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division v. District Court In & For the City & County of Denver

802 P.2d 473, 14 Brief Times Rptr. 1680, 1990 Colo. LEXIS 876, 1990 WL 204665
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedDecember 17, 1990
DocketNo. 89SA462
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 802 P.2d 473 (State, Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division v. District Court In & For the City & County of Denver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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State, Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division v. District Court In & For the City & County of Denver, 802 P.2d 473, 14 Brief Times Rptr. 1680, 1990 Colo. LEXIS 876, 1990 WL 204665 (Colo. 1990).

Opinion

Justice KIRSHBAUM

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

The State of Colorado, Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division (the Department); John J. Tipton, Executive Director thereof; and Guy Meyers, a hearing officer thereof, collectively termed “the petitioners,” seek relief in the nature of prohibition, pursuant to C.A.R. 21, to prohibit the respondent District Court in and for the City and County of Denver, Colorado, from exercising jurisdiction over a civil action filed by Daniel L. Schneller (Schneller) against petitioners. Having issued a rule to show cause, we make the rule absolute.

A

, On March 23, 1989, shortly after 10:30 p.m., while operating his motor vehicle near Empire, Colorado, Schneller was stopped by a police officer for allegedly speeding. Observing that Schneller’s eyes were bloodshot and watery, the officer transported Schneller to the Georgetown, Colorado, Police Department to ascertain the alcohol content of Schneller’s blood. The intoxilyzer machine used to make that determination recorded an alcohol level of .095 grams per 210 liters of breath.1 See § 42-2-122.1(1.5)(a)(I), 17 C.R.S. (1988 Supp.).

At 12:15 a.m. on March 24, 1989, the investigating officer notified Schneller that Schneller’s driver’s license was revoked for refusing to submit to an analysis of the alcohol content of his blood, confiscated Schneller’s driver’s license, and issued Schneller a temporary driver’s license valid for seven days.2 The officer also advised [475]*475Schneller that any request for a hearing to contest the revocation would have to be received by the Department within seven days.3 Although the activities underlying this case transpired between 10:30 p.m. on March 23, 1989, and 12:15 a.m. on March 24,1989, the officer’s written report chronicling these events is dated March 23, 1989, at 2:23 a.m.

On March 30, 1989, Schneller, a resident of Grand County, Colorado, mailed a letter to the Department requesting a hearing to challenge the revocation of his license. When he sought to ascertain the date of his hearing, the Department initially denied having received his request. However, the Department later sent Schneller a letter, dated May 4, 1989, stating that his request for hearing had been received on March 31, 1989, and that the request was denied because it had been received eight days after the date of the police officer’s report.4

Schneller received this letter on May 9, 1989. He then sent the Department a memorandum, dated May 17, 1989, requesting the Department to either return his driver’s license forthwith, conduct a hearing to consider the propriety of the revocation of his license, or to reopen the matter pursuant to section 42-2-122.1(7)(c).5 Although the Department had been furnished with a copy of the results of the test performed at the Georgetown police station, it denied Schneller’s requests by letter dated October 12, 1989.

On October 31, 1989, pursuant to C.R. C.P. 106(a)(4), Schneller filed a civil action in the District Court in and for the City and County of Denver (the trial court) seeking review of the Department’s actions. The complaint alleged that the Department exceeded its authority and abused its discretion in denying Schneller’s requests for a revocation hearing, and requested the trial court to enter an order directing the Department to either issue Schneller a new driver’s license or reopen the case and conduct a revocation hearing.

The petitioners, pursuant to C.R.C.P. 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(5), filed a motion to dismiss Schneller’s C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4) action. They argued that the State Administrative Procedure Act, section 24-4-106, 10A C.R.S. (1988) (hereinafter “the Act”), provides the sole means for judicial review of an order of the Department revoking a driver’s license except in extraordinary circumstances not here present. They also argued that Schneller’s complaint was not filed in the county wherein he resides, contrary to the requirements of section 42-2-122.1(9)(a), 17 C.R.S. (1984).6

On November 15, 1989, the trial court denied the petitioners’ motion to dismiss and ordered the Department to issue a temporary driver’s license to Schneller pending final determination of the matter. [476]*476The trial court concluded that the petitioners had exceeded their jurisdiction and abused their discretion in refusing to determine the merits of Schneller's claims in the face of evidence that Sehneller had not refused to submit to an analysis of the alcohol content of his blood and in preventing Sehneller, by their inaction, from seeking relief from the revocation of his driver’s license. The trial court also concluded that Sehneller had no other adequate remedy because the petitioners “have refused to make any determination on the facts ... and the only issue considered by means of judicial review ... would be the Department’s denial of a hearing.” Petitioners then filed this petition for relief.

B

In People v. District Court, 200 Colo. 65, 612 P.2d 87 (1980), this court considered the propriety of a plaintiff’s reliance upon C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4) to obtain judicial review of the Department’s revocation of his driver’s license. The Department, pursuant to C.R.C.P. 12(b)(5), filed a motion to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and the trial court denied the motion. In reversing the trial court’s judgment, we held that the judicial review provisions of the Act7 provided the exclusive remedy available for determination of the issues raised by the plaintiff in that case. People v. District Court, 200 Colo. at 68, 612 P.2d at 89. We pointed out that by its terms C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4) is available as a remedy only in the absence of any other “plain, speedy and adequate remedy,” C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4), and concluded that the plaintiff had not demonstrated that the relief provided by the Act was inadequate to address the issues raised by his complaint.

In our view, the Act, when considered in conjunction with statutory provisions authorizing review of the Department’s determinations, provides ample authority for judicial review of the issues asserted by Sehneller in this case. Section 42 — 2—122.1(9)(b) describes the scope of judicial review available to persons challenging a final determination of the Department as follows:

The review shall be on the record without taking additional testimony. If the court finds that the department exceeded its constitutional or statutory authority, made an erroneous interpretation of the law, acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, or made a determination which is unsupported by the evidence in the record, the court may reverse the department’s determination.

§ 42-2-122.1(9)(b), 17 C.R.S. (1984). Section 42-2-122.1(10) describes the applicability of the judicial review provisions of the Act to Department action as follows:

The “State Administrative Procedure Act”, article 4 of title 24, C.R.S., shall apply to this section to the extent it is consistent with subsections (7), (8), and (9) of this section relating to administrative hearings and judicial review.

§ 42-2-122.1(10), 17 C.R.S. (1984).

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802 P.2d 473, 14 Brief Times Rptr. 1680, 1990 Colo. LEXIS 876, 1990 WL 204665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-department-of-revenue-motor-vehicle-division-v-district-court-in-colo-1990.