Texas Department of Public Safety v. Kelton

876 S.W.2d 450, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 729, 1994 WL 94520
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1994
DocketNo. 08-93-00150-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 876 S.W.2d 450 (Texas Department of Public Safety v. Kelton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas Department of Public Safety v. Kelton, 876 S.W.2d 450, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 729, 1994 WL 94520 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

BARAJAS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from the judgment of a County Court at Law dismissing the appeal of the Texas Department of Public Safety in a driver’s license suspension case, for want of jurisdiction. We reverse the judgment of the trial court.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellee was arrested on October 27, 1991 for the offense of driving while intoxicated. At the time of his arrest, it was requested that he submit a specimen of his breath in order to determine the alcoholic content of [451]*451his blood. Appellee refused to submit such a specimen. On March 17, 1992, a hearing was conducted before the judge of the Municipal Court of the City of El Paso. The hearing was held pursuant to Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 67011-5, § 2(f) to determine whether the Appellee’s driver’s license should be suspended.1 The Municipal Court found that the statutory requirements for license suspension for refusal to take a breath test existed. The parties agree that the findings of the Municipal Court were correctly entered. The Municipal Judge then ordered that Appellee’s driver’s license be suspended for the requisite 90-day period, but probated the suspension.

Appellant, questioning the authority of a municipal court to probate the above mandatory suspension, filed its timely request for a trial de novo with County Court at Law No. 5 in El Paso County. On April 2, 1993, a hearing was held in County Court at Law No. 1, at which time the trial court granted Appellee’s motion to dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction. In dismissing the appeal, the trial court entered the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

1. A Municipal Court Judge or a Justice of the Peace, hearing a Blood/Breath Test refusal case under the provisions of Article 67011-5, V.T.C.S., Section 2, paragraphs (f) and (g), has the authority to order a probation of any suspension ordered.
2. Said authority to order probation of any suspension is based on Attorney General Opinion JM-959 and Article 6687b, V.T.C.S., Section 22(e).
3. The Texas Department of Public Safety was the prevailing party at the administrative hearing in the Justice of the Peace Court in this ease.
4. Because the Texas Department of Public Safety was the prevailing party at the administrative level it has no right to appealo since there was no harm.
5.The Court dismissed the Texas Department of Public Safety’s appeal, trial de novo, for want of jurisdiction.

II. DISCUSSION

In three points of error, Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in dismissing its appeal, in failing to suspend Appellee’s driving privileges for 90 days, given the parties’ stipulation that all three elements of Section 2(f) of Article 67011-5 were met, and in finding that a municipal court judge or a justice of the peace hearing a breath refusal case under the provisions of article 67011-5 has statutory authority to order probation of the suspension.

In Point of Error No. One, Appellant states that the trial court erred by dismissing their appeal for want of jurisdiction. In response, Appellee maintains that the trial court correctly dismissed the appeal insofar as an appealing party must be aggrieved. Appellee further states that the above common law principle must be applied in the instant case in order to give full effect to the statutory scheme created by the legislature. On review, Appellee concedes that the central issue to be resolved for the proper disposition of the instant case is whether a County Court at Law has the discretion to dismiss a statutorily authorized appeal, trial de novo, for want of jurisdiction, where the Texas Department of Public Safety has purportedly suffered no harm.

At common law, it is a fundamental principle of appellate review that a party on appeal may not complain of errors that do not injuriously affect him or that merely affect the rights of others. Buckholts Indep. School Dist. v. Glaser, 632 S.W.2d 146 (Tex.1982); Jackson v. Fontaine’s Clinics, Inc., [452]*452499 S.W.2d 87, 92 (Tex.1973); County of El Paso v. Ortega, 847 S.W.2d 436, 441 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1993, no writ).2 Consequently, Appellee is correct in stating that the right to appeal rests only in an aggrieved party to a lawsuit. Southern Nat’l Bank of Houston v. City of Austin, 582 S.W.2d 229, 235 (Tex.Civ.App.—Tyler 1979, writ ref'd n.r.e.); County of El Paso v. Ortega, 847 S.W.2d at 442. An aggrieved party is one who has an interest recognized by law which is injuriously affected by the trial court’s judgment. Southern Nat’l Bank of Houston v. City of Austin, 582 S.W.2d at 235. Appel-lee suggests that Appellant, having generally prevailed in the municipal court below, has no justiciable interest on appeal to the County Court at Law.3 In order to be a justicia-ble interest, there must be an actual controversy between parties who have conflicting personal stakes. City of West Univ. Place v. Martin, 132 Tex. 354, 123 S.W.2d 638, 639 (1939); County of El Paso v. Ortega, 847 S.W.2d at 442. Texas courts only have power over litigants with justiciable interests. Camarena v. Tex. Employment Comm’n, 754 S.W.2d 149, 151 (Tex.1988); Morrow v. Corbin, 122 Tex. 553, 62 S.W.2d 641, 647 (1933).

The right to appeal a driver’s license suspension proceeding does not exist in the absence of statutory authority. Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Schaejbe, 687 S.W.2d 727, 728 (Tex.1985); Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Quintero, 818 S.W.2d 149, 152 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1991, no writ); Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Sanchez, 780 S.W.2d 502, 505 (Tex.App.—Amarillo 1989, no writ). Hence, if statutory authority existed for Appellant to appeal a decision entered in a driver’s license suspension proceeding, general common law principles of appellate review which require that the appealing party be aggrieved are inapplicable to the instant case.

At the time the Municipal Court ordered the suspension and probation of Appellee’s driving .privileges, driver’s license suspension hearings involving an alleged breath test refusal were appealed pursuant to Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6687b, § 31 (Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 1127, § 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1987). Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Quintero, 818 S.W.2d at 152. At the time, Article 6687b, Section 31 provided in pertinent part as follows:

Sec. 31. RIGHT OF APPEAL TO COURTS.

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876 S.W.2d 450, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 729, 1994 WL 94520, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-department-of-public-safety-v-kelton-texapp-1994.