LAURA TYLER
v.
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES
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Laura Tyler sought second-tier certiorari review of a circuit court order that dismissed her first-tier petition challenging a DUI-based driver license suspension as moot because the suspension had expired during the proceedings. The appellate court held that the mootness doctrine's capable-of-repetition-but-evading-review exception applies to such license suspension cases and that the circuit court erred in failing to apply this exception.
The court held that Tyler's license suspension issue is capable of repetition but evaded review and therefore should be considered on its merits rather than dismissed as moot. The circuit court erred in failing to apply the capable-of-repetition-but-evading-review exception and thereby denied Tyler due process.
[1] A driver's license suspension issue is capable of repetition but evades review, and therefore should be considered on its merits, even after the suspension has expired.
[2] A circuit court departs from the essential requirements of law and denies due process when it dismisses a certiorari petition as moot without applying the capable-of-repe…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“license suspension issue [i]s capable of repetition but evaded review and therefore [should be] considered . . . on its merits”
Establishes the applicable exception to mootness doctrine for driver license suspension cases
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTyler received a twelve-month driver license suspension following a DUI citation. She filed a first-tier certiorari petition challenging the administr…
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SLEET, Judge. Laura Tyler seeks second-tier certiorari review of the circuit court's April 25, 2022, Order Dismissing Petition for Writ of Certiorari as Moot. The first-tier petition sought review of the administrative order upholding her twelve-month driver license suspension under a citation for DUI.
During the pendency of the first-tier certiorari proceeding, the suspension expired.
The circuit court then dismissed the petition as moot, citing McLaughlin v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 128 So. 3d 815 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), and explaining that "because the suspension has expired, the issue of the validity of the suspension of the petitioner's driver license is moot." Tyler now seeks second-tier certiorari review of the petition, arguing that the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law and denied her due process in dismissing the order as moot.
We agree because Tyler's "license suspension issue [i]s capable of repetition but evaded review and therefore [should be] considered . . . on its merits." See Cornelio v. Dep't of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 2D22-1683, 2023 WL 2193156, at *2 (Fla. 2d DCA Feb. 24, 2023) (citing McLaughlin v. Dep't of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 2 So. 3d 988, 990 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008)). "In dismissing as moot [Tyler's] certiorari petition, the circuit court failed to apply the capable-of-repetition-but-evading-review exception to mootness [set forth in McLaughlin, 2 So. 3d at 990,] and denied [Tyler] the due process to which [s]he was entitled." See Cornelio, 2023 WL 2193156, at *2.
Accordingly, we grant Tyler's petition and quash the circuit court's order. "Whether [Tyler's] first-tier petition will be granted or denied is not at issue here. The merits of [her] petition must first be addressed by the circuit court." See id. Petition granted; order quashed. VILLANTI and BLACK, JJ., Concur. Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- McLAUGHLIN v. Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles, 2 So. 3d 988 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008)
- McLAUGHLIN v. Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles, 128 So. 3d 815 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)