CALL
v.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES
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The Ninth Judicial Circuit Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari and quashed a hearing officer's decision sustaining a driver's license suspension, holding that the failure to place a copy of the crash report in the record violated a statutory mandate under section 322.2615(2), Florida Statutes.
The court held that section 322.2615(2) imposed a mandatory requirement that the law enforcement officer forward a copy of the crash report to the Department, and that the failure to place the crash report in the record constituted a departure from essential requirements of law warranting quashing of the hearing officer's decision.
[1] A failure to include a mandatory document in the record constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of law.
[2] The statutory requirement to forward a crash report to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is mandatory for the validity of a driver's license suspension…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“[t]he law enforcement officer shall forward to the Department…..a copy of the crash report, if any”
The statutory language establishing the mandatory duty to forward the crash report as interpreted by the court
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAfter an accident while operating his motorcycle, petitioner Call was arrested for DUI and his driver's license was suspended. A formal review hearing…
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from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Donna Petty, Hearing Officer. David H. Novack, Esquire, for Petitioner
Stephen D. Hurm, General Counsel, and Kimberly A. Gibbs, Assistant General Counsel, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, for Respondent.
Before POWELL, ROCHE, T. SMITH, J.J.
FINAL ORDER GRANTING PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
Petitioner Call seeks certiorari review of a decision of a hearing officer sustaining the suspension of his driver’s license after a formal review hearing. We dispense with oral argument pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.320, and grant the petition.
After an accident while operating his motorcycle, petitioner Call was arrested for DUI, his driver’s license suspended, and a formal review hearing was held. No crash report was placed in the record although one was written. Petitioner’s motion to invalidate the suspension for that reason was denied, the adverse decision herein was issued, and this petition followed. It is with some reluctance1 we conclude that we must follow our holdings in Romaguera v. DHSMV, No. 2007-CA-9009-O (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. Jan. 29, 2009) and Blinkov v. DHSMV, No. 2009-CA-75, (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. March 22, 2010) (petition for rehearing granted in part). In both of those cases we held that the version of section 322.2615(2), Florida Statutes (which was in effect then and is in effect in this case2), provided in part that “[t]he law enforcement officer shall forward to the Department…..a copy of the crash report, if any” was mandatory; and that the failure to place a copy of the crash report in the record at the review hearing was a departure from essential requirements of law. See also Glaser v. DHSMV, 16 Fla. L. Weekly Supp.1a (Fla. 4th Cir. Ct. Sept. 4, 2008) and Carter v. DHSMV, 15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 1b (Fla. 4th Cir. Ct. Oct. 10, 2007), which are in accord. Contra Roy v. DHSMV, 15 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 955a (Fla. 4th Cir. Ct. May 13, 2008). The case of DHSMV v. Snelson, 817 So. 2d 1045 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), cited by the Department, is distinguishable on its facts.
Therefore, the Petition for Writ of Certiorari is GRANTED and the decision of the hearing officer in this case is hereby QUASHED. DONE AND ORDERED at Orlando, Florida this _11th____ day of __July_____, 2011.
_/S/________________________
ROM W. POWELL Senior Judge
/S/
__/S/________________________ RENEE A. ROCHE THOMAS B. SMITH
Circuit Judge Circuit Judge
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing order was furnished to David H. Novack, Esq., 217 E. Ivanhoe Blvd., N., Orlando, Florida 32804; and Kimberly A. Gibbs, Assistant General Counsel, P.O. Box 570066, Orlando, Florida 32857, by mail, this _12th___ day of __July_______________, 2011.
____/S/___________________________
Judicial Assistant
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Snelson, 817 So. 2d 1045 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)