Court Opinion

ID: 9533521
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:32:27.120039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:04.418216
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I concur in the judgment.
Charles Larsen’s driver’s license was suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles (hereafter DMV), pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13352, based on his conviction in New York of “driving while ability impaired.” He petitioned for a writ of mandate in the superior court (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085) to direct the DMV to set aside the suspension, on the ground that the out-of-state conviction was invalid because he had pleaded guilty to the violation without having been advised of his federal constitutional rights. Specifically, he alleged that the trial court failed to obtain a personal, on-the-record waiver of certain of his rights under the United States Constitution—namely, his privilege against self-incrimination, his right to a jury trial, and his right to confront adverse witnesses. (Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449].)
Applying Thomas v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1970) 3 Cal.3d 335 [90 Cal.Rptr. 586, 475 P.2d 858] (hereafter Thomas), the majority conclude that Larsen may not challenge the constitutionality of the out-of-state conviction in a mandate proceeding directed against the DMV. Instead, he must challenge his conviction in the out-of-state forum; if he is successful, Vehicle Code section 13352 will cease to apply.
Thomas held that a mandamus proceeding could not be directed against the DMV, because that agency, in suspending a license pursuant to Vehicle *289Code section 13352, was merely performing a ministerial function. (3 Cal.3d at p. 338.) Instead, a defendant must challenge the validity of a prior conviction either by an action in the court that rendered it or in a mandate proceeding directed at the rendering court. (3 Cal.3d at p. 338.)
In Thomas, the prior conviction was rendered by a California court. Here, because Larsen was convicted in New York, he is limited to the first alternative, i.e., he may challenge the prior conviction in the rendering court in New York; he may not do so in a mandate proceeding directed at the rendering court (a California court has no power to direct the New York court to set aside its judgment). The rationale in Thomas nonetheless applies: the DMV cannot be subject to a mandamus proceeding to review the validity of a prior conviction regardless of where the conviction occurred.
The Court of Appeal below concluded that because suspension of a driver’s license is a punishment based on a prior conviction that may be constitutionally invalid, California must provide a forum to attack the prior conviction. The premise is defective: the suspension of a driver’s license is a civil penalty; there are no cases holding that a California forum must be available to challenge the constitutionality of a prior conviction when it is the basis for a civil penalty. (Moomjian v. Zolin (1993) 12 Cal.App.4th 1606, 1612 [16 Cal.Rptr.2d 335] [“license suspension ... is a civil, not a criminal, sanction”]; Pollack v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1985) 38 Cal.3d 367, 380-381 [211 Cal.Rptr. 748, 696 P.2d 141] [“The thrust of the legislative concern under Vehicle Code section 13352 [is] protection of the public from drivers whose prior conduct demonstrates they cannot currently be trusted with a license to drive.”]; cf. People v. Coffey (1967) 67 Cal.2d 204, 215 [60 Cal.Rptr. 457, 430 P.2d 15] [“ ‘To the extent that any State makes its penal sanctions depend in part on the fact of prior convictions elsewhere, necessarily it must assume the burden of meeting attacks on the constitutionality of such prior convictions.’ ”], italics added.)
I therefore agree with majority. Larsen must seek relief in New York.
In my view, however, a different result would follow if the conviction were “void on its face”—a condition that is not satisfied here. In such a case, mandamus may be directed against the DMV to prevent it from acting on a conviction rendered either in this state or elsewhere. (Williams v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1969) 2 Cal.App.3d 949, 954 [83 Cal.Rptr. 76] [if conviction is “void on its face,” a defendant is “entitled to collaterally attack it by seeking a writ of mandate” directed to the DMV]; Houlihan v. *290Department of Motor Vehicles (1970) 3 Cal.App.3d 915, 919, fa. 4 [83 Cal.Rptr. 885] [to the same effect].)1
Similarly, a writ of mandate would lie against the DMV if it acted in excess of its authority. For example, the DMV is authorized to suspend or revoke the driving privilege of any person convicted of an offense in any American or Canadian jurisdiction, “which, if committed in this state, would be a violation of [Vehicle Code] Section 23152.” (Veh. Code, § 13352, subd. (d).) Suspension or revocation of the driving privilege that did not comport with this provision would, accordingly, be subject to adjudication in a writ of mandate directed to the DMV. Indeed, a driver would have no other forum for challenging the legal conclusion of the DMV that the out-of-state offense would have violated Vehicle Code section 23152.
For the reasons stated, I join the majority in reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

There is an additional remedy for a driver who contests the accuracy of DMV records of prior convictions. As noted in Pollack v. Department of Motor Vehicles, supra, 38 Cal.3d at page 380, footnote 8, Vehicle Code section 13352 “mandates suspension or revocation only upon receipt of a duly certified abstract of a court record reflecting a drunk driving conviction, and in the case of multiple offenses, only where DMV records reflect prior convictions. If the DMV records are inaccurate or if there is a mistake as to identity, license suspension is not mandatory by the provisions of the code. Under the terms of [Vehicle Code] section 14101, therefore, a driver who contests the accuracy of DMV records of prior convictions may not be denied the opportunity for an administrative hearing to demonstrate that suspension is not mandatory in his case.”