Opinion ID: 1172214
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Due Process Cases

Text: Resolving the constitutional status of a statute is a question of law; thus, we exercise an unlimited, de novo standard of review. State v. Myers, 260 Kan. 669, 676, 923 P.2d 1024 (1996). The constitutionality of a statute is presumed. All doubts must be resolved in favor of its validity. Before a statute may be stricken we must determine, beyond substantial doubt, that the statute violates the constitution. In deciding constitutionality, it is our duty to uphold the statute under attack rather than defeat it. If there is any reasonable way to construe the HVS as constitutionally valid, we should do so. 260 Kan. at 676. The prologue to our analysis acknowledges that Heironimus does not question the validity of the three K.S.A. 1995 Supp. 40-3104 convictions that sponsor his status of habitual violator. The Division's paperwork is accurate. Also, the mailing and address on the order are not questioned. A characteristic of the HVS is that no criminal sanction attaches to being declared a habitual violator until the offender voluntarily decides to operate a motor vehicle while flouting the order of license revocation. Revocation of a driver's license involves State action that adjudicates important interests of the licensees. In such cases licenses are not to be revoked without the procedural due process required by the Fourteenth Amendment. Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 539, 29 L. Ed.2d 90, 91 S. Ct. 1586 (1971). We have characterized the loss of driving privileges for 3 years as a major sanction. State v. Wood, 231 Kan. 699, 702, 647 P.2d 1327 (1982). We consider possession of a driver's license a regulated privilege protected by due process but not an inherent fundamental right. The purpose of a hearing mandated by Bell v. Burson is to permit a licensed driver to demonstrate that he or she is free from fault and thus the license should not be revoked. State v. Jennings, 150 Ariz. 90, 93, 722 P.2d 258 (1986). Revocation under the HVS occurs only after the three convictions for the enumerated offenses are final. Heironimus had already had the opportunity of a full trial in connection with each of the three offenses before the mandatory provisions of the HVS applied. In Bell v. Burson , the Court determined a Georgia motor vehicle safety responsibility statute covering uninsured motorists was unconstitutional for violating the petitioner's due process rights by failing to give him a presuspension hearing on liability. 402 U.S. at 543. The petitioner, an uninsured motorist, faced suspension after being involved in an accident and failing to post the required security for injuries to the other party. Burson reasoned that because a release from liability from the injured party or an adjudication of nonliability could prevent the suspension from taking effect or lift an already imposed suspension, liability was an important factor in the statutory scheme. It was not a no-fault scheme. Thus, the State could not, consistent with due process, eliminate consideration of [the liability] factor in its prior hearing. 402 U.S. at 541. In deciding that the HVS violated due process, the district court applied the three-part test of Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 335, 47 L. Ed.2d 18, 96 S. Ct. 893 (1976): [D]ue process [analysis] generally requires consideration of three distinct factors: First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail. The Eldridge test has been applied in determining the constitutionality of driver's license revocation statutes in two United States Supreme Court cases: Mackey v. Montrym, 443 U.S. 1, 61 L. Ed.2d 321, 99 S. Ct. 2612 (1979), and Dixon v. Love, 431 U.S. 105, 52 L. Ed.2d 172, 97 S. Ct. 1723 (1977). Montrym held that a Massachusetts statute mandating suspension of a driver's license for refusal to take a breath test upon arrest for driving while intoxicated, without a presuspension hearing, did not violate due process. The Massachusetts statute provided for an immediate postsuspension hearing and provided for an appeal. Montrym's license was suspended when he initially refused to take a breath test after his arrest. Applying the third part of the Eldridge test (the government's interest), Montrym concluded that the compelling interest in highway safety justifies the Commonwealth in making a summary suspension effective pending the outcome of the prompt postsuspension hearing available. 443 U.S. at 19. Dixon v. Love , a habitual violator case, is of interest here because of its factual similarity. Love reviewed the constitutionality of an Illinois statute authorizing the Secretary of State to suspend or revoke a driver's license, without a prerevocation hearing, if official records or other sufficient evidence showed that the driver had been repeatedly convicted of traffic offenses. Love found that the risk of an erroneous deprivation in the absence of a prior hearing is not great, because under the Secretary's regulations, suspension and revocation decisions were largely automatic. 431 U.S. at 113. The Court said: Of course, there is the possibility of clerical error, but written objection will bring a matter of that kind to the Secretary's attention. In this case appellee had the opportunity for a full judicial hearing in connection with each of the traffic convictions on which the Secretary's decision was based. Appellee has not challenged the validity of those convictions or the adequacy of his procedural rights at the time they were determined.... Since appellee does not dispute the factual basis for the Secretary's decision, he is really asserting the right to appear in person only to argue that the Secretary should show leniency and depart from his own regulations. Such an appearance might make the licensee feel that he has received more personal attention, but it would not serve to protect any substantive rights. We conclude that requiring additional procedures would be unlikely to have significant value in reducing the number of erroneous deprivations. 431 U.S. at 113. Justice Stevens, in his concurring opinion, emphasized that Love's license was subject to mandatory revocation. 431 U.S. at 117. Justice Brennan, also concurring in the result, said: [A]s my Brother Stevens demonstrates, a hearing was unnecessary to establish what was already clearthat the revocation of appellee's license was mandatory. 431 U.S. at 118. A hearing for Heironimus was unnecessary to establish what was already clear, that revocation of his license was mandatory. This is not a Bell v. Burson case. Bell's license was revoked before he had any opportunity for a hearing. Here, Heironimus had the opportunity for a hearing with each underlying conviction.