Court Opinion

ID: 9579827
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:58:58.968222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:48.853216
License: Public Domain

*263NEUMANN, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority attempts to explain away the conflict between its interpretation of section 39-20-01 and the legislature’s express mandate in section 39-20-05(8) by misstating the question. The majority says that 39-20-05(3) prohibits a driver from raising the issue of his ignorance of the law, but does not preclude the issue of whether a child “who has not been afforded parental guidance” has made an effective refusal. That characterization of the issue begs the question.
Olson was not deprived of parental guidance; his mother was contacted. His mother, however, was not advised of the implied consent requirements. Thus, while 39-20-05(3) clearly states that the driver cannot raise his own ignorance of the law as an issue at an administrative hearing, the majority’s interpretation of 39-20-01 permits a driver who is a minor to raise his parents’ ignorance of the law as an issue. That result strikes me as an inconsistency that is not explained away by the driver’s minority, particularly when the legislature took the trouble to provide in 39-20-01 that neither the attempts to contact the parent, nor any consultation with the parent that might result, may interfere with the administration of the test.
I think it is a much more reasonable harmonization of 39-20-01 and 39-20-05(3) to hold that if the reading of the implied consent advisory to the driver cannot be an issue at the administrative hearing, then neither can the reading of the implied consent advisory to the driver’s mother be an issue at the administrative hearing. I would affirm.