Court Opinion

ID: 9595306
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:38:32.55687+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:27.441167
License: Public Domain

ORME, Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the court’s opinion, with one caveat. My concern focuses on the exception to the mootness doctrine which permits reaching the merits of a technically moot case where the issue presented is likely to recur but evade appellate review and where the issue is of significant public interest. See generally Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973); Kehl v. Schwendiman, 735 P.2d 413, 415 (Utah Ct.App.1987).
*111While I agree the instant cases are moot, the issue they raise, the sufficiency of the warnings offered by officers who seek to administer breathalyzer tests, is of considerable public interest. However, the other requirement for deciding a moot case— whether the matter is one otherwise likely to evade appellate review — has not been shown. I believe a case posing the same issue could properly come before us in the context of a case where the revocation was still in effect. In this regard, it is noteworthy that Kehl involved only a ninety-day suspension, see 735 P.2d at 415, while these cases involve a one-year revocation. It seems to me that with full use made of such devices as summary judgment at the district court and expedited briefing or summary disposition at this court, a case on the “fast track” could find its way to a panel of this court while a one-year revocation was still in effect. Thus, I do not believe the issue will forever evade review unless this court addresses the issue in a case that is moot. It is only for this reason that I do not view it as proper to decide the merits of the instant cases under the exception to the mootness doctrine.