Title: State v. Skilling

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 90-416

                            JANUARY TERM, 1991


State of Vermont                  }          APPEALED FROM:
                                  }
                                  }
     v.                           }          District Court of Vermont,
                                  }          Unit No. 1, Windham Circuit
                                  }
Patricia Skilling                 }
                                  }          DOCKET NO. 72-7-90WmCS


             In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:


     Defendant, whose operator's license was suspended as a result of a
civil suspension hearing under 23 V.S.A. { 1205, appealed, arguing that the
case should have been dismissed for failure to meet statutory time limits
and that certain findings are clearly erroneous.  It is undisputed that the
law enforcement officer involved did not send a notice of suspension to
defendant immediately on receiving the test results and did not mail a copy
of his affidavit to defendant within seven days of the notice to suspend.
See 23 V.S.A. { 1205(b).  Nor was the court hearing held within 30 days of
the date of the request for the hearing as required by 23 V.S.A. { 1205(e).
We have held that the requirement that the notice be mailed immediately is
directory so that "compliance is not essential to a proceeding's validity."
State v. Camolli, 2 Vt. L.W. 76, 79 (Feb. 19, 1991).  We conclude that the
other time limits involved here are also directory because the statute does
not specify any consequence for failure to comply.  See In re Mullestein,
148 Vt. 170, 174,