DUI Articles

California DMV Administrative Hearings

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A California DUI arrest starts two legal processes: first, there is an administrative action with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV); and second, the more familiar criminal action occurs within the California court system. This article focuses on the former in an effort to educate people on what to expect with the California DMV hearing.

10 Days, Ten Days, TEN DAYS!

If you’ve been doing any type of DUI research on the Internet, you have undoubtedly come across warnings that you have 10 days to request a DMV administrative hearing or your California drivers license will be automatically suspended. While that sounds simple enough, we are dealing with the DMV.

California Vehicle Code (CVC) Section 14100(a) says “the person receiving the notice or
subject to the action may, within 10 days, demand a hearing which shall be granted.” Now the notice of action is provided by the arresting the officer, so the 10 day clock is typically seen to start on the date of arrest. At times, DMV officials have indicated that the clock starts the day after the arrest, but do NOT rely on this! If you were arrested on the 4th of the month, get your request in by the 14th.

Similarly, do NOT rely on weekends or holidays to try extend the 10 day time period. At times DMV officials have indicated if your day 10 occurs on a weekend, you have until the next business day, but this is rare. The DMV Hearing Officer is much more likely to say you could have faxed it in over the weekend.

Requesting a DMV Administrative Hearing

The most efficient way to request a DMV admin hearing is via fax. The fax should NOT be sent to your local DMV office, but it has to go to a special DMV Driver Safety Office that oversees cases in your county of arrest. The DMV website provides a listing of the Driver Safety Offices with fax numbers, but unfortunately they do not tell you which office oversees which counties. If it is at all unclear, make sure you call to confirm you have the right office.

Since the DMV can lose paperwork, you should always retain a dated fax transmittal receipt. In addition to requesting the hearing, you should specifically ask for a stay of the suspension of your drivers license and any available discovery. The request is also a good time to ask for a translator or any other accommodation that you might need.

Some DUI law firms provide free California DMV Hearing request for dui. Click the link to do a Google search to see if this service is available in your local area.

What Happens at a DMV Administrative Hearing

California DMV Administrative Hearings can take place either over the phone or at the Drivers Safety Office with jurisdiction. While people debate the advantages of attendance or phone, the most important factors in success are specific merits of the case and preparation. To uphold the suspension of your drivers license, the DMV Hearing Officer needs to make three findings by preponderance of evidence:

  • Did the peace officer have reasonable cause to believe you were driving a motor vehicle in violation of California Vehicle Code Section 23140, 23152, or 23153 (i.e. you were under the influence of alcohol or drugs).
  • Were you lawfully arrested?
  • Were you driving a motor vehicle when you had .08% or more, by weight, of alcohol in your blood?

While each of these seems fairly straightforward at first read, there is actually a lot of ambiguity to each of them. For example, a percentage of DUI arrests do not actually involve a peace officer witnessing driving. In such circumstance, what gives them reasonable cause to believe driving had occurred? When a blood alcohol test had not been performed, it is not always clear if there was a refusal or some other matter at play.

DUI lawyers write whole books on the fine points of these issues. It is too complicated to go into any depth here on fighting a DMV Administrative Hearing. If maintaining your driving privilege is important to you, you should consult a local DUI lawyer to discuss the specifics of your case. If you retain an attorney, they can not only represent you at the DMV Hearing, but you may not even need to attend.

What are the Possible Outcomes of DMV Hearing

Depending the amount of evidence and the complexity of a case, it might take a few days to a couple of weeks for the DMV Hearing Officer to render a decision. The decision may be to sustain (uphold) the suspension of your California Drivers License, or to set aside (dismiss) the earlier decision.

If you are not satisfied with the Hearing Officer’s decision, you do have the right to appeal it with a departmental review or even file an appeal with the California Superior Court. In practice, neither of these approaches tend to lead to a better outcome. Instead, adverse DMV Hearing decisions are more likely to be changed following a good outcome with the court system. Since the two use different standards of evidence, or you might be able to plea bargain your case, it is possible to lose the DMV Hearing but to win the court case. Depending on the exact circumstances at court, the decision might reverse the action of the DMV.

Again, this is a matter you should discuss with an experienced DUI defense lawyer.

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