Court Opinion

ID: 9774339
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:17:02.363399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:06.637123
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Senior Judge FRIEDMAN.
I respectfully dissent. The majority vacates the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County (trial court) and remands this case to the trial court, directing that the trial court
hold this license suspension appeal in abeyance and afford [Michael E. Pia-secki] Licensee a reasonable period of time to seek permission to appeal the underlying conviction nunc pro tunc. If Licensee either fails to pursue or is unsuccessful in pursuing nunc pro tunc relief as to the underlying conviction, the trial court is directed to resolve the instant license [suspension] appeal in a manner consistent with this Opinion.
(Majority op. at 1074-75.) I submit that such a disposition is contrary to well-established case law.
In Commonwealth v. Duffey, 586 Pa. 436, 443, 639 A.2d 1174, 1177 (1994) (emphasis added), our supreme court stated:
We have established that a licensee may not collaterally attack an underlying criminal conviction in a civil license suspension proceeding. In Commonwealth v. Bursick, 526 Pa. 6, 584 A.2d 291 (1990), this court held that the scope of review of an operating privilege suspension which resulted from a criminal conviction does not include the authority to attack the validity of the underlying criminal conviction.
Indeed, in Radice v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety, 118 Pa.Cmwlth. 627, 545 A.2d 1005, 1007 (1988) (emphasis in original), this court stated that “the only issues in a license suspension appeal are whether the licensee was in fact convicted and whether [the Department of Transportation] DOT has acted in accordance with applicable law.” Here, the majority has acted beyond this court’s scope of review in considering evidence regarding the circumstances of Licensee’s criminal conviction.
Moreover, in Radice, the licensee argued that, on equitable grounds, this court should carve out an exception to the rule prohibiting collateral attacks on underlying criminal convictions where the motorist is innocent of the underlying criminal charge. This court held that, “[i]n light of the wealth of case law holding that a licensee may not raise a collateral attack on the underlying criminal conviction in a license suspension appeal, such an argument is frivolous.” Radice, 545 A.2d at 1008 (emphasis added). This court then awarded DOT reasonable counsel fees for a frivolous appeal under Pa. R.A.P. 2744.
Finally, this court has specifically stated that the only remedy for a licensee who believes that he or she is innocent of underlying criminal charges is to file a nunc pro tunc appeal of the underlying criminal conviction. Radice. In no case has this court directed a trial court to hold a license suspension in abeyance while the licensee files a nunc pro tunc appeal.1
Accordingly, I would reverse.

. Although the circumstances in this case might warrant relief, Licensee chose to represent himself, and " 'any layperson choosing to represent himself in a legal proceeding must, to some reasonable extent, assume the risk that his lack of expertise and legal training will prove his undoing.’ ” Vann v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 508 Pa. 139, 148, 494 A.2d 1081, 1086 (1985) (quoting Groch v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 81 Pa.Cmwlth. 26, 472 A.2d 286, 288 (1984)).