State ex rel. Director of Revenue v. Scott

919 S.W.2d 296, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 595, 1996 WL 162343
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 1996
DocketNo. WD 51479
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 919 S.W.2d 296 (State ex rel. Director of Revenue v. Scott) 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
State ex rel. Director of Revenue v. Scott, 919 S.W.2d 296, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 595, 1996 WL 162343 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING IN PROHIBITION

HANNA, Presiding Judge.

After an administrative hearing, the Director of Revenue revoked Ms. Karen L. Hill’s driving privileges for one year.1 She filed a petition requesting a temporary injunction and a trial de novo pursuant to § 302.535, RSMo 1994, challenging the revocation, as well as the conduct of the administrative hearing and of the arresting officer. In response to the petition, on July 31, 1995, the respondent entered a temporary injunction restraining the Director from denying Ms. Hill driving privileges pending the trial de novo.

The Director of Revenue brings this action in prohibition to prevent the respondent judge from enforcing her temporary injunction. We issued our preliminary order and now make the order permanent. The issue is whether, pending a trial de novo, the respondent judge had subject matter jurisdiction to enjoin the Director’s order revoking the petitioner’s driving privileges for an alcohol-related traffic offense pursuant to §§ 302.500-.540, RSMo 1994.

On March 31, 1995, Hill was arrested for driving while intoxicated. A breath analysis test revealed that she had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .13 percent. Because her BAC exceeded .10 percent, her driving privileges were subject to revocation under § 302.525.2(2).

[299]*299The respondent asserts that the temporary injunction was justified because Hill would be irreparably harmed in that she would face significant personal hardship if her license was revoked. This hardship argument was made in Hill’s petition for a temporary injunction filed with the respondent and continued here.

It is not entirely clear from the briefs, but apparently the argument of personal and economic hardship finds its way here as a result of Dixon v. Love, 431 U.S. 105, 97 S.Ct. 1723, 52 L.Ed.2d 172 (1977). In Dixon, the court stated that the suspension of a driver’s license implicated a protectible property interest. Id. at 112, 97 S.Ct. at 1727. In discussing the private interests to be protected, the court considered the personal and economic hardship of the loss of a driver’s license. In Love, hardship relief was available under the Illinois scheme only after a driver had been suspended and had demonstrated his eligibility for reinstatement. Id. at 114 n. 10, 97 S.Ct. at 1728 n. 10. The Court’s concern was the delay the Illinois statute had in providing a post-deprivation hearing. Id at 109-10, 97 S.Ct. at 1725-26. In Mackey v. Montrym, 443 U.S. 1, 99 S.Ct. 2612, 61 L.Ed.2d 321 (1979), the Court considered a Massachusetts statute, which provided less relief for hardship cases than the Illinois statute. The Mackey court noted that “[tjhough we adverted to the existence of (hardship) provisions in Lave, they were in no sense the ‘controlling’ factor in our deci-sion_” Id. At any rate, § 302.530.2 provides for jull driving privileges to be retained pending the administrative hearing.

The trial de novo procedure is a purely statutory remedy. State ex rel King v. Kinder, 690 S.W.2d 408, 409 (Mo. banc 1985). Following an adverse decision at the administrative level, a licensee’s exclusive remedy is to petition for a trial de novo in the circuit court. State ex rel. Director of Revenue v. Pennoyer, 872 S.W.2d 516, 519 (Mo.App.1994). When a court of general jurisdiction engages in the exercise of a special statutory power, such as the trial de novo power, the court’s authority is strictly confined to that provided in the statute. King, 690 S.W.2d at 409.

Section 302.535.2, RSMo 1994, states that “[t]he filing of a petition for trial de novo shall not result in a stay of the suspension or revocation order.” Missouri courts have consistently interpreted this provision to explicitly prohibit a circuit court from staying the revocation of a licensee’s driving privileges pending a trial de novo. Pennoyer, 872 S.W.2d at 518; King, 690 S.W.2d at 409.

In a factually similar case, our Supreme Court in King, 690 S.W.2d at 409, ruled that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to enter an order staying the Director’s order revoking driving privileges. The Director revoked a driver’s license because of an alcohol-related traffic offense. After an adverse decision in an administrative hearing, the driver filed his petition in the circuit court for a trial de novo and requested a stay order. The circuit court ordered a stay of the revocation pending trial. The Director sought a writ of prohibition against the respondent judge. The Court held that the circuit court’s power to issue an order staying the Director’s revocation was abrogated by the enactment of § 302.535.2. The Court stated, “The language could not be more explicit.” Id.

Section 302.535.2 does not make exceptions for the reasons argued here by the respondent. There is nothing in the statute or the case law that would grant the court the authority to act contrary to a legislative directive or to make exceptions to the statutory prohibition against restraining orders.

Next, the respondent argues that Hill was denied due process because Hill was entitled to a meaningful prerdeprivation hearing and a prompt post-deprivation hearing. Respondent maintains that the pre-deprivation administrative hearing was not “meaningful” because she was subject to the loss of driving privileges and did, in fact, lose those privileges before receiving a de novo hearing in front of a circuit court judge. She claims that her post-deprivation hearing was not prompt because the Director routinely files [300]*300for a change of judge, hampering the driver’s right to a prompt hearing.2

Neither of the arguments justifies the stay order entered by respondent. The statutory scheme designed in §§ 302.500-.540, RSMo 1994, provides an adequate means of redress. The Missouri statutes provide greater protection to the driver than is required by the dictates of Love, 431 U.S. 105, 97 S.Ct. 1723, and Mackey, 443 U.S. 1, 99 S.Ct. 2612. See Schildknecht v. Director of Revenue, 901 S.W.2d 348, 349 (Mo.App.1995).

In Pennoyer, the court stated that the circuit court exceeded its jurisdiction in entering the stay orders, “regardless of whether the orders were issued incident to the applications for trial de novo or the petitions for declaratory relief.” Pennoyer, 872 S.W.2d at 518. See also Bradley v. McNeill, 709 S.W.2d 153 (Mo.App.1986). The Bradley court repeated the well-established principle that to invoke the equitable powers of a court, the driver must demonstrate affirmatively that he or she has no adequate legal remedy. Id. at 156.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Opinion No. (2001)
Missouri Attorney General Reports, 2001

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
919 S.W.2d 296, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 595, 1996 WL 162343, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-director-of-revenue-v-scott-moctapp-1996.