Case Title: State ex rel. Dept. of Revenue and Taxation, Motor Vehicle Div. v. Vase

Citation: 

Docket Number: 

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 1986-06-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
State ex rel. Dept. of Revenue and Taxation, Motor Vehicle Div. v. Vase1986 WY 130721 P.2d 37Case Number: 85-178Decided: 06/12/1986Supreme Court of Wyoming
The STATE of 
Wyoming, ex 
rel., DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE AND TAXATION, MOTOR VEHICLE DIVISION, Appellant 
(Respondent),

v.

Billy Ray VASE, Appellee 
(Petitioner).

Appeal from District 
Court.

A.G. McClintock, 
Atty. Gen., and Michael R. O'Donnell, Asst. Atty. Gen., signed the brief on behalf of 
appellant.

David A. 
Hampton, Honaker Law Firm, Rock 
Springs, signed 
the brief on behalf of appellee.

Before THOMAS, C.J., and ROONEY,* BROWN, CARDINE and URBIGKIT, 
JJ.

* Retired November 30, 
1985.

THOMAS, Chief 
Justice.

[¶1.]     The only question in 
this case is whether the Motor Vehicle Division of the Department of Revenue and 
Taxation was deprived of its jurisdiction to revoke Vase's driver's license 
because it failed to hold the revocation hearing within the time prescribed by 
statute. The district court ruled that the Wyoming Tax Commission had lost 
jurisdiction to suspend Vase's driver's license and reversed the order of 
suspension. We reverse the order of the district court and affirm the order of 
the Wyoming Tax Commission suspending the driver's 
license.

[¶2.]     In 1982 Vase forfeited 
bail on a charge of DWUI in the Rock Springs Municipal Court. On October 19, 
1984, he entered a plea of guilty to DWUI in the Green River Municipal Court. On 
October 22, 1984, he received two documents from the Green River Municipal 
Court. One was a copy of his judgment and sentence. The other was a notice which 
was prepared on the letterhead of the Department of Revenue and Taxation. That 
notice was not dated, and it read:

"TO ALL INDIVIDUALS 
ARRESTED FOR DRIVING WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE

"You have been arrested 
for Driving While Under the Influence, a violation of Wyoming Statute 31-5-233. 
A conviction under this statute will result in the mandatory suspension of your 
driver's license and/or driving privileges.

"IF CONVICTED, you will 
be notified by the Department of Revenue and Taxation as to the length of the 
suspension or of the revocation of your driver's license and driving privilege 
in the State of Wyoming. The suspension period will commence 
at the time of your conviction and the length thereof will be determined by the 
records of the Department of Revenue and Taxation.

"IF CONVICTED, YOU ARE 
HEREBY NOTIFIED of your right to a hearing, under Wyoming Statute 31-7-127(d). 
You have twenty (20) days from the date of your conviction to request a hearing. 
THE HEARING REQUEST CAN ONLY BE MADE BY SENDING IN A WRITTEN REQUEST OR 
COMPLETING THE INFORMATION BELOW ADDRESSED TO:

"WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF 
REVENUE AND TAXATION

Financial Responsibility 
Section

Cheyenne, Wyoming82002

(307) 777-7961" (Emphasis 
in original.)

* * * * * 
*

[¶3.]     Vase then sent a notice 
requesting a hearing to the Department of Revenue and Taxation on October 29, 
1984. The response to this request came from the Supervisor for Financial 
Responsibility who on November 6, 1985, sent Vase a letter 
reading:

"We are returning your 
written request for an administrative hearing regarding a driver license 
suspension. As of this date, we are unable to match your name with a suspension 
action or file number. "When you receive your written notification for proposed 
suspension, please, at that time, make your written request for an 
administrative hearing."

[¶4.]     Sometime later the 
Motor Vehicle Division of the Department of Revenue and Taxation received the 
record of the second DWUI conviction based upon Vase's plea of guilty in the 
municipal court in Green River. The following 
notice then was sent:

"NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY FOR

HEARING AND 
PROPOSED

ORDER OF 
SUSPENSION

"TO: Bill Ray Vase # 3 
Harding Court Rock 
Springs, WY 82901

"DATE OF ISSUE January 3, 
1985

"The records of the Motor 
Vehicle Division show that you were convicted of or forfeited bail for the 
following offense:

"DWUI in Municipal Court 
of Green River, Wyoming on October 19, 1984, (2nd DWUI), arrested on August 12, 
1984.

"THEREFORE IT IS ORDERED 
that under the provisions of Title 31, Chapter 7, your privilege to operate a 
motor vehicle upon the highways of this State and any license evidencing such 
privilege is hereby suspended for the period from January 27, 1985 through 
January 27, 1986.

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED 
that under the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Safety-Responsibility Act (Title 
31, Chapter 9) your drivers license and motor vehicle registration are suspended 
for an additional period of THREE YEARS, January 27, 1985 through January 27, 
1988 unless you file and maintain in the Motor Vehicle Division the required 
Proof of Financial Responsibility as required by law. (See Reverse Side 
Hereof)

"Demand is hereby made 
for the surrender of your drivers license to the Motor Vehicle Division, if not 
already in its possession; also surrender all Motor Vehicle Registrations and 
License plates as provided by law.

* * * * * 
*

"CERTIFICATE OF 
MAILING

"The undersigned hereby 
certifies that, on the date below, he or she, an officer or employee of the 
Motor Vehicle Division, deposited in the United States Mail, at Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, an original of the order of which this is an exact duplicate copy, in 
an envelope addressed to the person named in the order, at his or her last 
address as shown on the records of the Department, postage 
prepaid.

"1-3-85                                                                                                                       
LRB Date                  
                                                
Officer or Employee of Department"

[¶5.]     Vase denied that he 
received this notice, although his address was the same throughout these 
proceedings. Even though he did not receive the notice, he did request a hearing 
on January 11, 1985. The hearing was held on February 6, 1985, and the hearing 
officer ordered the suspension of Vase's driver's license. Vase then appealed to 
the Wyoming Tax Commission which also heard his case and on March 8, 1985, 
upheld the suspension. That was followed by a petition for review in the 
district court. The district court reversed the order of the Wyoming Tax 
Commission, and the State appeals from that order of the district 
court.

[¶6.]     In reversing the order 
of the Wyoming Tax Commission, the district court apparently adopted Vase's 
challenge to the license suspension proceedings, which is premised upon § 
31-7-127(e), W.S. 1977. That statute provides:

"* * * [T]he licensee may 
request a hearing within twenty (20) days from the date the division gives 
notice of intent to suspend or revoke the license. If requested, the hearing 
shall be held within forty-five (45) days after receipt of the request. * * 
*"

[¶7.]     Vase argued in the 
district court and he argues here that he had requested a hearing in October of 
1984, and therefore the February 1985 hearing was not timely because it was not 
held within 45 days after receipt of his request. His position is that the Motor 
Vehicle Division lost jurisdiction to suspend his license.

[¶8.]     We reverse because the 
Motor Vehicle Division was not required to provide a hearing within 45 days of 
the receipt of Vase's October 29, 1984, request. Vase concedes that he made that 
request based upon the notice dated October 22, 1984, which was sent by the 
Green River Municipal Court. The correspondence from the Motor Vehicle Division 
confirms that it did not send that notice. Consequently, the 45-day period could 
not begin to run before the Division sent notice on January 3, 1985, and it 
actually started on January 11, 1985, the date the Division received the request 
by Vase for a hearing. The triggering event under the statute is the giving of 
notice by the Division of intent to suspend or revoke the license. The hearing 
held on February 6, 1985, was timely based upon the January 11, 1985, request. 
There is no need then for us to address the other issues suggested by the State 
in its brief to the effect that the trial court erred in finding that the word 
"shall" in the statute is mandatory and that the delay was unreasonable even if 
the word "shall" is not mandatory.

[¶9.]     We specifically do not 
address the proposition that the failure to hold a hearing within 45 days would 
cause the Motor Vehicle Division to lose jurisdiction. That problem must await 
an instance in which the record facts disclose that the hearing was not held 
within 45 days.

[¶10.]  We are as much at a loss as the district 
court was to understand why the municipal court mailed this notice on the 
letterhead of the Department of Revenue and Taxation. It is likely that it was a 
holdover from the practices adopted by our courts of limited jurisdiction which 
were abrogated in State ex rel. Motor Vehicle Division v. Holtz, Wyo., 674 P.2d 732 (1983). In that case, we held that our courts of limited jurisdiction do not 
have the authority to suspend driver's licenses nor should they be involved in 
the process of suspension of such licenses.

[¶11.]  The order of the district court is 
reversed, and the order of the Wyoming Tax Commission affirming the suspension 
of Vase's license to drive is reinstated with the proviso that the period of 
suspension shall run from the date of the mandate by this court.