Court Opinion

ID: 9862916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 02:28:38.174104+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:38:11.090007
License: Public Domain

ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
DICE, Commissioner.
Appellant insists that in our opinion on original submission we misinterpreted his contentions and that the questions presented were as stated on page 3 of his brief, as follows:
(1) Was the suspension order of February 20, 1963—to become effective fourteen months after appellant’s license had expired—a valid suspension?
(2) Was the extension order, entered after his license had expired, valid and effective ?
We have again reviewed the record in the light of the questions presented and remain convinced that a proper disposition was made of the case on original submission.
As shown in our original opinion, appellant was issued an operator’s license which bore an expiration date of March 21, 1963.
Prior to such expiration date, the license was three times suspended—on May 31, 1962, December 14, 1962, and February 1, 1963—for periods of one year, under the provisions of either Section 22 or 24 of Article 6687b, supra. The suspensions were cumulated, and the last suspension terminated on May 31, 1965. Other orders of suspension were made after the expiration date of the license, which as stated in our original opinion, are not material to a disposition of the case.
In Goolsby v. State, supra, cited in our original opinion, this court affirmed a conviction for driving-while-license-suspended, where the license was suspended prior to its expiration date and the offense was committed after such date but during the period of suspension.
We adhere to such decision and reaffirm our holding that the orders of suspension entered prior to the expiration date of appellant’s license were valid and cumulative so as to suspend the license beyond the expiration date (March 21, 1963) stated thereon.
Under such orders, appellant’s license was in a state of suspension on April 28, 1965, when he operated his automobile upon a public street and highway.
In our original opinion we cited the opinion of Chief Justice Bell, of the Houston Court of Civil Appeals, in Texas Department of Public Safety v. Preble, 398 S.W.2d 785, in support of the conclusion reached in the present case. In that case the same three suspensions of appellant’s license were held to effectively cumulate and extend the period of suspension to May 31, 1965.
Appellant suggests that the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals is incorrect in treating the February 1, 1963, suspension as one under Sec. 24 of Art. 6687b, supra, upon a conviction for driving-while-license-suspended, because in fact it was made under Sec. 22 of Art. 6687b, supra, upon an affirmative finding by a corporation court.
Whether the suspension was under Sec. 22 or Sec. 24 of Art. 6687b does not *906affect its validity. If under Sec. 24, it was a valid automatic suspension, and cumulative. If under Sec. 22, as shown in the record before us, it was made by the Department under the provisions of Sec. 22(b) 1, which reads:
“The authority to suspend the license of any operator, commercial operator, or chauffeur as authorized in this Section is granted the Department upon determining after proper hearing as hereinbefore set out that the licensee:
“(1) Has committed an offense for which automatic suspension of license is made upon conviction
We hold that in ordering a suspension under this provision of the statute, the Department was authorized to make the same cumulative with other prior suspensions.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.
Opinion approved by the court.