Wilson v. Dollison

401 N.E.2d 486, 61 Ohio Misc. 29, 15 Ohio Op. 3d 371, 1979 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 76
Girard Municipal Court·Decided September 19, 1979·No. No. 79 CV H 523·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Luarde, J.

This cause came on to be heard on the 13th day of August, 1979, on the petition of the plaintiff, Arthur Wilson, Jr., against Dean Dollison, Registrar, and the state of Ohio, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, seeking an order of the court to reverse the order of suspension of his driver’s license imposed by the defendant Registrar and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for the reasons set forth in the petition of the plaintiff, but basically for petitioner’s refusal to comply with the implied consent law, after petitioner was arrested for driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, the petitioner, Arthur Wilson, Jr., will be referred to as plaintiff and the defendants, Dean L. Dollison, Registrar, and the state of Ohio, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, will be referred to as defendants, which may be used interchangeably.

At the outset of the hearing, the prosecutor moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s petition and appeal for the reason it was untimely filed. The motion of the prosecutor was argued by counsel. Briefs were to be filed by the parties within ten days, and a hearing was concluded on August 23, 1979.

In support of his motion, the prosecutor argued that Dean Dollison, Registrar, sent by certified mail under date of [30]*30March 27, 1979, from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles an official notice of the suspension of driving privileges to the plaintiff-petitioner, Arthur Wilson, Jr., at his home address of 596 Stull Avenue, Girard, Ohio, as required and prescribed by R. C. 4511.191(C), (D) and (E). However, the record shows the plaintiff-petitioner did not file his petition or appeal from the order of the suspension made by the defendants until the date of May 31, 1979; that by reason thereof his motion to dismiss the plaintiffs petition should be sustained.

It was the contention of the petitioner, who opposed the motion of the prosecutor to dismiss, that although the appeal admittedly was filed beyond the 20-day statutory period that the plaintiff did not receive any notice of suspension and had no knowledge of the suspension until he was informed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to surrender his registration and plates by the local office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The petitioner further argued that although he was arrested on February 16,1979, and charged with.a violation of Girard City Ordinance 333.01, driving under the influence of alcohol, and the petitioner was requested to submit to a breathalyzer or chemical test, which he admittedly refused having been warned of the consequences of the refusal, the plaintiff was subsequently found guilty of reckless operation in violation of Girard City Ordinance 333.02, in this court. (This was done by plea bargaining between the prosecutor and defense counsel.)

Following the argument of the prosecutor and plaintiffs counsel, in the instant case, on the motion of the prosecutor to dismiss the petition and appeal for not having filed it within the 20-day statutory time limit and the strenuous argument of the plaintiff, Arthur Wilson, Jr., that he did not receive the notice sent him by the defendants, this court held an evidentiary hearing in the instant case because of the similar issues raised in this case and the case of the State v. Foreman (1978), 54 Ohio Misc. 31, cited by plaintiffs counsel, with particular focus on the matter of notice of the Registrar to a licensee and the manner of that service of notice, which admittedly was by certified mail of the defendants, No. 92278, from the Ohio Department of Highway Safety, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Columbus, Ohio, time-stamped [31]*31copy March 27, 1979, and marked defendant’s Exhibit 1. In that case the court held as follows:

Notice of suspension of a driver’s license under the financial responsibility law must comply with the notice requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Unless defendant failed to receive notice because of his culpable conduct, actual notice is required to support a conviction of driving under suspension.

Counsel in their briefs also cite the case of Fell v. Bur. of Motor Vehicles (1972), 30 Ohio App. 2d 151, decided by the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County. In that case the law and the procedural steps that must be taken by the licensee and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles following his refusal to take a breathalyzer or chemical test under the implied consent law, R. C. 4511.191, is well delineated in the above case of Fell v. Bureau, commencing at page 156 of that opinion by Judge Krenzler of the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County. The licensee in that case argued that the defendants did not mail the notice to his last known address; that R. C. 4511.191(E) requires that the notice be sent to the last known address of the licensee, a mandatory requirement of the statute and if it is not complied with the suspension will not be effective.

In the instant case the plaintiff contends that although a 20-day notice may have been mailed to him that he did not receive it and he had no knowledge of the notice until he was phoned by the local office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and told to bring in his registration and plates, and then and only then filed his petition on May 31,1979, in this court seeking an order to reverse the order of the defendants on the suspension. This was some 64 days from the date the certified mail was time-stamped at Columbus, Ohio, addressed to the plaintiff at his home address.

The Fell opinion, at page 162, then goes on:

“However, the licensee has the obligation to give his last known address to the police officer and if the address is in error because of his fault he cannot later be heard to complain that he did not get his notice at his last known address.”

Judge Krenzler, at page 163, continues:

“Police officers are not required to accurately determine whether the address they receive from the licensee, either [32]*32from his driver’s license, or orally, is the last known address of the licensee, nor is the registrar required to make any further inquiry. He only has to mail the notice to the address contained in the affidavit.
“However, if the address contained in the affidavit and /or the notice to the licensee is not the address given by the licensee to the police officer, then the proposed suspension is invalid and not effective. In other words, if error is made in sending the notice to the licensee to his last known address and it is the error of the police officer or the registrar, then the suspension is not effective until the licensee receives the notice.
“If there is a delay in the delivery of the notice of suspension this does not make the suspension invalid and void but only makes it ineffective until the licensee has a reasonable amount of additional time to file his petition for hearing in court.”

The Fell case then goes on to discuss the many different methods of notification in cases of this kind. Civ. R. 4.1, and the Administrative Procedure Act, R. C. 119.06, are examples of effective mail notification. Civ. R. 4.1(1) provides for service by certified mail, which method of service was used by the defendants in the case at bar, properly addressed to the plaintiff, Arthur Wilson, Jr., at his home, 596 Stull Avenue, Girard, Ohio, where the evidence revealed he had resided for some six continuous years, up to and including the date of this hearing.

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Wilson v. Dollison, 401 N.E.2d 486, 61 Ohio Misc. 29, 15 Ohio Op. 3d 371, 1979 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 76 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1979).

401 N.E.2d 486 (Wilson v. Dollison) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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