Case Name: Brock Martin ECKSTEIN, Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Respondent
Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Minnesota
Decision Date: 1991-06-11
Citations: 471 N.W.2d 114
Docket Number: No. C0-90-2428
Parties: Brock Martin ECKSTEIN, Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Respondent.
Judges: Considered and decided by AMUNDSON, P.J., and HUSPENI and RANDALL, JJ.
Reporter: North Western Reporter 2d
Volume: 471
Pages: 114–119

Head Matter:
Brock Martin ECKSTEIN, Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Respondent.
No. C0-90-2428.
Court of Appeals of Minnesota.
June 11, 1991.
Review Denied Aug. 1, 1991.
Thomas J. Kraus, McLoone Law Offices, Waseca, for appellant.
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., Jacquelyn E. Albright, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for respondent.
Considered and decided by AMUNDSON, P.J., and HUSPENI and RANDALL, JJ.

Opinion:
OPINION
AMUNDSON, Judge.
Appellant's driver's license was revoked pursuant to the implied consent law, and he petitioned for judicial review. The trial court dismissed the petition because it failed to state the facts underlying each claim as required by Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c (Supp.1989). Eckstein appeals, and we affirm.
FACTS
Appellant was arrested for DWI on July 10, 1990, and his driver's license was revoked pursuant to the implied consent law. He petitioned for judicial review of his license revocation pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c (Supp.1989), raising issues of probable cause, post-accident consumption of alcohol, and use of inadmissible hearsay in violation of Miranda rights. The petition did not include a description of the facts supporting each issue.
The Commissioner filed a notice of motion and motion to dismiss the petition, based on appellant's failure to state the facts underlying each claim asserted in the petition. The Commissioner then served appellant with a request for admissions and interrogatories. Appellant apparently served the responses by mail as well as on the Commissioner at the implied consent hearing.
At the hearing, the Commissioner moved to dismiss the petition. The trial court dismissed appellant's petition, finding it lacked the statement of facts underlying each claim asserted as required by Minn. Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c.
Eckstein appeals.
ISSUE
Did the trial court err in dismissing appellant's petition for judicial review because he failed to state the facts underlying each claim asserted as required by Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c?
ANALYSIS
A peace officer who requires a test pursuant to the implied consent law shall serve notice of revocation and revocation upon a person who refuses to permit a test or who takes a test with a result of .10 or more. Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5a (Supp.1989). The driver who wishes to challenge the revocation must file a petition for judicial review. Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c. The statute provides in relevant part:
The petition shall state with specificity the grounds upon which the petitioner seeks rescission of the order of revocation, disqualification, or denial and state the facts underlying each claim asserted.
Minn.Stat. § 169.123, subd. 5c (emphasis added). The emphasized portion, which is at issue here, was added in the 1989 legislative session. 1989 Minn.Laws ch. 307, § 12.
The purpose of the "specificity" requirement is to alert the Commissioner and the trial court to the matters truly at issue so that witnesses are not unnecessarily produced and the court is not required to listen to evidence on undisputed issues. Palbicki v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 347 N.W.2d 512, 515 (Minn.App.1984). Failure to state a ground upon which the petitioner seeks to have a revocation rescinded may, upon the Commissioner's objection, preclude the petitioner from raising the issue at the hearing. Id.
Petitioners on occasion have submitted "shotgun" petitions in which numerous grounds are raised. See Dutcher v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 406 N.W.2d 333, 335 (Minn.App.1987). The Commissioner must be prepared to prove each claim raised, except for affirmative defenses, by a preponderance of the evidence. See King v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 366 N.W.2d 613, 615 (Minn.App.1985). At the hearing, the petitioner may eliminate some issues raised in the petition.
The new requirement that facts be cited to support each claim is to ensure petitioners only advance claims truly at issue. A short statement of facts, perhaps no more than a sentence or two, normally should be enough to meet this requirement. Challenges to this requirement, however, should not degenerate into a semantic argument. A proper petition must provide an informative statement. It must be more than language which is merely conclusory or simply directs classification of the acts. We conclude that just as failure to state an issue with specificity can preclude its consideration, the failure to include facts to support each claim can preclude determination of that claim. Appellant's response to the Commissioner's discovery requests did not meet this requirement. The trial court therefore properly dismissed the petition.
Appellant's request for expert witness fees and for attorney fees on appeal is denied.
DECISION
The trial court did not err by dismissing appellant's petition when the petition did not include facts supporting each asserted claim.
Affirmed.