Case Name: Jeffrey Michael KUNTZ, Appellant, v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER, Appellee
Court: North Dakota Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: North Dakota
Decision Date: 1987-04-29
Citations: 405 N.W.2d 285
Docket Number: Civ. No. 11273
Parties: Jeffrey Michael KUNTZ, Appellant, v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER, Appellee.
Judges: GIERKE and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: North Western Reporter 2d
Volume: 405
Pages: 285–295

Head Matter:
Jeffrey Michael KUNTZ, Appellant, v. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER, Appellee.
Civ. No. 11273.
Supreme Court of North Dakota.
April 29, 1987.
Pulkrabek & Tuntland, Mandan, for appellant; argued by Thomas M. Tuntland.
Steven F. Lamb, Asst. Atty. Gen., State Highway Dept., Legal Div., Bismarck, for appellee.

Opinion:
MESCHKE, Justice.
Jeffrey M. Kuntz appeals from a district court judgment upholding the Highway Commissioner's decision to revoke his driver's license for two years, under § 39-20-04 and 39-20-05, N.D.C.C., for refusing to take an intoxilyzer test. We hold that a person arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor has a qualified statutory right to consult with an attorney before deciding whether or not to submit to a chemical test. We conclude that Kuntz was not allowed a reasonable opportunity to do so, at his request, and that, therefore, his failure to take the test was not a refusal. Accordingly, we reverse.
The facts of this case are important to our disposition of the legal issue and are not in dispute. Mercer County Deputy Sheriff, Kerry Kessler, stopped Kuntz after observing him drive his motor vehicle erratically. Kessler detected "a moderate odor of alcoholic beverage about [Kuntz's] breath," and he observed Kuntz unsatisfactorily perform a series of roadside sobriety tests. Kessler then informed Kuntz that he was "under arrest for driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs." Kessler immediately advised Kuntz of his constitutional rights, specifically that he "had the right to remain silent, that anything he said could and would be used against him in a court of law, that he had the right to an attorney; if he could not afford one, one would be appointed for him."
Deputy Kessler took Kuntz to the Mercer County Jail in Stanton. There, in the booking room, subsequent proceedings were videotaped. After some preliminaries, Deputy Kessler informed Kuntz that his refusal to take an intoxilyzer test would result in automatic revocation of his driver's license. A dialogue between Kuntz and Kessler followed:
Officer: "Do you understand that? Will you take the test?"
[13 second pause]
Kuntz: "Can't I call my lawyer?"
Officer: "Yes or no. Will you take the test or not? If you take it, the most you can lose your license for is 91 days. If you refuse to take it, you automatically lose your license for a year, 364 days. There is no opportunity to get a work permit or nothing. It's up to you."
[16 second pause]
Officer: "Will you take the test?"
Kuntz: "Don't I get to call my lawyer first?"
Officer: "As soon as we're done with the test and with joint procedure, you can [call] whoever you like."
[18 second pause]
Kuntz: "Why can't I call him before?"
Officer: "That's not the way we do our typical procedures."
Kuntz: "I don't really know — does it really matter?"
Officer: "What's that?"
Kuntz: "Well — does it really matter?"
Officer: "Other than our normal procedures — no."
Kuntz: "Well then I'd like to call my lawyer."
Officer: "... if you take the test . cause if you refuse to take this test you automatically lose your license for a period of one year. If you take it, the most you can lose your license for is 91 days. Three months — and after the first month, you can apply for a work permit. But if you refuse to take the test you can apply all you want for a work permit and you won't be granted one. The Judge won't grant you a work permit if you refuse to take the test."
Kuntz: "I still should be able to call my , lawyer, though, shouldn't I?"
Officer: "As soon as we're done with the test and the proper procedure, you can call your lawyer or whoever you want."
Kuntz: "What does it matter if I call him now?"
Officer: "Yes or no. Are you going to take the test?"
Kuntz continued to verbalize his request to call his lawyer before deciding whether to take the test and repeatedly questioned. Officer Kessler why he was not allowed to call his lawyer before, rather than after, taking the test. Kuntz did not take the intoxilyzer test, and as a result the Commissioner revoked his driver's license for a period of two years. Kuntz appealed the Commissioner's decision to the district court which upheld the license revocation.
On appeal Kuntz asserts that he had a statutory right, under § 29-05-20, N.D. C.C., to call an attorney before deciding to take the intoxilyzer test:
"29-05-20. Delay after arrest prohibited — Attorney.— The accused in all cases must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, and any attorney at law entitled to practice in the courts of record of this state, at his request, may visit such person after his arrest."
We agree with the rationale of those jurisdictions which have interpreted their right-to-counsel statutes as entitling a person arrested for driving under the influence to a reasonable opportunity to consult with an attorney before deciding to take a chemical test. See State v. Vietor, 261 N.W.2d 828 (Iowa 1978); Prideaux v. State Dept. of Public Safety, 310 Minn. 405, 247 N.W.2d 385 (1976). Although the statutory language construed in those cases is not identical with the language of § 29-05-20, N.D.C.C., we believe the import of those statutes is similar to ours, and the decisions applying those statutes are therefore instrumental and persuasive to our interpretation of § 29-05-20, N.D.C.C., and its application to this case.
In 1976, Minnesota law, Section 481.10, Minn.Stat., provided that a restrained person shall be entitled to consult with an attorney "as soon as practicable, and before other proceedings shall be had." In construing that provision the Minnesota Supreme Court in Prideaux, supra, concluded:
"Although the Minnesota statute does not explicitly mention telephone calls and was drafted before automobiles were commonly used, it must be interpreted in accordance with the fundamental nature ' of the right it affords and the technological advance of our society. The importance of a driver's license and the binding decisions which must be made by the driver asked to submit to chemical testing make the chemical-testing process a 'proceeding' within the meaning of § 481.10 before which consultation with counsel is to be accorded." 247 N.W.2d at 393.
The Minnesota Supreme Court held that any person who is required to decide whether to take a chemical test has the right to consult with an attorney before making that decision "provided that such a consultation does not unreasonably delay the administration of the test. . If counsel cannot be contacted within a reasonable time, the person may be required to make a decision regarding testing in the absence of counsel."
Section 755.17 of the Iowa Code provides that an arrested person shall be allowed to consult with an attorney "before preliminary hearing and arraignment . without unnecessary delay after arrival at the place of detention." The Iowa Supreme Court in State v. Vietor, supra, held that this provision entitles an arrested person to have a reasonable opportunity, if requested, to speak with an attorney before being required to decide to take a chemical test. In so concluding the court described the "strange circumstances," substantially identical to those in this case, which under lie the arrested person's desire and need to consult an attorney in such a situation:
"Peace officers find themselves in an anomalous position when attempting to implement the provisions of the implied consent law after making an OMVUI arrest. The license revocation which follows a refusal to submit to chemical testing is an administrative proceeding, to which, as already pointed out, the Miranda protections do not apply.... But when a chemical test is requested, the peace officer — and most often the arres-tee as well — knows the results will be vital evidence in a later criminal trial.
"This leads to the strange circumstances facing us here. Upon Irvin's arrest, the officer advised him of his constitutional rights under Miranda. One of these is the right to counsel. Yet almost immediately the officer read to Irvin a statement from the implied consent form that he was not entitled to counsel.
"It is hard enough for us to reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements. It must be impossible to do so for one facing the necessity of making an immediate decision which later may be used to convict him of a crime." [Citation omitted.] 261 N.W.2d at 830-831.
In the later case of Fuller v. State, Dept. of Transportation, 275 N.W.2d 410 (Iowa 1979), the Iowa Supreme Court applied Victor, supra, to a license revocation proceeding:
"The rationale of Vietor was that a defendant could not be required to make his election until he had consulted counsel. Therefore, if a defendant is denied this statutory right on request, he cannot be held to have refused a chemical test.
"If there was no refusal, the premise upon which the state may revoke a license under § 321B.7 is missing." 275 N.W.2d at 411.
Section 29-05-20, N.D.C.C., gives a person the right to visit with an attorney upon request "after his arrest." Officer Kes-sler's request of Kuntz to take the intoxi-lyzer test occurred after Kuntz's arrest and after Kuntz had been informed that he had a right to have an attorney. At the time he was asked to submit to the intoxi-lyzer test Kuntz had a statutory right to visit with an attorney. Kuntz was entitled to have a reasonable opportunity to consult with an attorney before deciding whether to take the intoxilyzer test, so long as that effort did not unreasonably interfere with the testing procedure under Chapter 39-20, N.D.C.C. Kuntz's exercise of that right by requesting to call his attorney before taking the test did not constitute a refusal for purposes of revoking his license under Chapter 39-20, N.D.C.C. See Moore v. State, Motor Vehicles Div., Etc., 293 Or. 715, 652 P.2d 794 (1982); Fuller, supra; Siegwald v. Curry, 40 Ohio App.2d 313, 319 N.E.2d 381 (Ohio Ct.App.1974).
It oversimplifies to assert, as the brief for the State Highway Commissioner does, that "in civil proceedings there is no right to counsel." Surely, due process applies to civil matters. "[E]very man for any injury done him . shall have remedy by due process of law_" Art. 1, Section 9, N.D. Const.
The United States Supreme Court has determined that the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution applies to a state's suspension or revocation of a driver's license. Dixon v. Love, 431 U.S. 105, 112, 97 S.Ct. 1723, 1727, 52 L.Ed.2d 172 (1977); Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 539, 91 S.Ct. 1586, 1589, 29 L.Ed.2d 90 (1971). Our determination, that a person has a limited right to consult with an attorney before deciding whether to take an intoxi-lyzer test, is underscored by constitutional due process principles. Justice Yetka, in his dissenting opinion in Nyflot v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 369 N.W.2d 512 (Minn.1985), cogently urges that the right to consult an attorney before making such a decision is basic and fundamental:
"Most persons are confused about the many laws that exist. What the public usually understands, and indeed expects, is that if one is in trouble, the first thing to do is consult with a lawyer. That right is so basic, so fundamental, and secured over so many centuries of struggle with tyranny as to become sacred." 369 N.W.2d at 522.
See also People v. Gursey, 22 N.Y.2d 224, 239 N.E.2d 351, 292 N.Y.Sup.2d 416, 418-419, (N.Y.1968); Siegwald, supra, at 383-384.
Furthermore, the test results are admissible in both the license revocation proceedings and the criminal proceedings for driving under the influence. Section 39-20-08, N.D.C.C., declares a refusal to take a test admissible as evidence in both the civil and criminal proceedings. Thus, the civil and criminal consequences are so intermingled that they are not perceptibly different to a lay person. It is both obvious and understandable that Kuntz was perplexed as to why he could not consult with an attorney before deciding to take the test when he had been informed at his arrest that he had a right to an attorney.
The circumstances of this case are distinguishable from those in Agnew v. Hjelle, 216 N.W.2d 291 (N.D.1974), where this court upheld a license revocation for refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test. Allen Agnew, when asked if he would consent to the test, stated that he would do nothing until he talked to his attorney. Agnew was then allowed to call his attorney who also happened to be the city prosecutor. Upon conferring with Agnew the attorney explained that he could neither represent nor advise him. Agnew made no further request to talk with an attorney, and the breathalyzer test was never administered. On appeal Agnew asserted that he had become confused when he was first told that he could remain silent and had a right to consult with an attorney but was then told that his driver's license would be revoked if he did not submit to a breathalyzer test. In upholding the license revocation this court concluded that there was no evidence that Agnew was confused with regard to his rights. This court also refused to adopt the "confusion doctrine" in Agnew, supra, which would require an officer to inform an arrested person who had been advised about his constitutional rights that they do not apply to the taking of a chemical test for license revocation purposes.
Agnew was permitted to speak in person with the attorney of his choice before making a decision to take a chemical test. To the contrary, Kuntz was not allowed to call his attorney. And, unlike Kuntz, Agnew did not claim that he had been denied a statutory right to confer with counsel. Consequently, the applicability of the statutory right to counsel was not at issue in Agnew, supra, nor in any of the following decisions of this court which considered the effect of not giving the so called Miranda advisory of constitutional rights and its effect on an arrest for driving under the influence: See Pladson v. Hjelle, 368 N.W.2d 508 (N.D.1985); Hammeren v. North Dakota State Highway Commissioner, 315 N.W.2d 679 (N.D.1982); State v. Fields, 294 N.W.2d 404 (N.D.1980).
Our determination that § 29-05-20, N.D. C.C., entitles an arrested individual to have a reasonable opportunity to consult with an attorney before deciding to take a chemical test is consistent with our recognition in Lund v. Hjelle, 224 N.W.2d 552 (N.D.1974), that an individual may, within a reasonable period of time, effectively reconsider a refusal to take a chemical test:
"Since the accuracy of a chemical test under Chapter 39-20 does not depend upon its being administered immediately after an arrest, accident or other event, and thus a delay for a reasonable period of time while an arrested person considers or reconsiders a decision whether or not to submit to a chemical test will not frustrate the object of the Legislature in enacting Chapter 39-20, we hold that where, as here, one who is arrested for driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor first refuses to submit to a chemical test to determine the alcoholic content of his blood and later changes his mind and requests a chemical blood test, the subsequent consent to take the test cures the prior first refusal when the request to take the test is made within a reasonable time after the prior first refusal; when such a test administered upon the subsequent consent would still be accurate; when testing equipment or facilities are still readily available; when honoring a request for a test, following a prior first refusal, will result in no substantial inconvenience or ex pense to the police, and when the individual requesting the test has been in police custody and under observation for the whole time since his arrest." 224 N.W.2d at 557.
The right to consult with an attorney, like the right to reconsider a first refusal to take a chemical test, is a qualified right which cannot be used to materially hamper the process of administering the chemical test under Chapter 39-20, N.D.C.C. If the person arrested is unable to reach an attorney by telephone or otherwise within a reasonable time, he can be required to elect between taking the test and refusing it without the aid of an attorney.
We hold that if an arrested person asks to consult with an attorney before deciding to take a chemical test, he must be given a reasonable opportunity to do so if it does not materially interfere with the administration of the test. If he is not given a reasonable opportunity to do so under the circumstances, his failure to take the test is not a refusal upon which to revoke his license under Chapter 39-20, N.D.C.C.
Since Kuntz was not allowed a reasonable opportunity to try to consult with his attorney, after he asked to do so, the Commissioner's decision to revoke his license is reversed.
GIERKE and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
. The hearing officer concluded that Knutz "failed to submit" to the test. The statutes apply to one who "refuses," to a "refusal" (§ 39-20-04, N.D.C.C.), for "refusing," and to a person who "refused" a test (§ 39-20-05(3) and (5), N.D.C. C.). We do not exclude any evidence, but we hold that the evidence of failure to take a test under these circumstances is not a "refusal." Compare Westendorf v. Iowa Department of Transportation, 400 N.W.2d 553 (Iowa 1987) which held that the exclusionary rule did not apply in an administrative proceeding to revoke a driver's license.
. In 1978 the Minnesota legislature expanded the required implied consent advisory, in accord with Prideaux, supra, to inform the driver of the limited right to consult with an attorney before deciding whether to submit to chemical testing. Act of April 5, 1978, Ch. 727, § 3, 1978 Minn.Laws 788, 792-93.
In 1984, however, the Minnesota legislature deleted the advisory requirement provided by the foregoing 1978 amendment and changed the advisory to require that the driver be informed of a right to consult with an attorney "after submitting to testing." Act of May 2, 1984, Ch. 622, § 10, 1984 Minn.Laws 1541, 1546-47. The Minnesota Supreme Court in Nyflot v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 369 N.W.2d 512 (Minn.1985), concluded that by enacting the 1984 amendment the legislature intended to abandon the Prideaux, supra right to counsel and the high court held that under the new law "... a driver arrested for DWI no longer has even a limited statutory right to consult with counsel before deciding whether to submit to chemical testing." 369 N.W.2d at 515.