Court Opinion

ID: 9759117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:06:20.425768+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:14:32.461353
License: Public Domain

FRIEDMAN Judge,
Concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, I write separately because the majority’s analysis of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution 1 erroneously assumes that a New Jersey driver can avoid a license suspension under New Jersey law by entering a guilty plea with a civil reservation. Indeed, the majority states that this court will not give full faith and credit to New Jersey’s guilty plea with civil reservation because it is “more lenient” and “would be contrary to not only the policy of this Commonwealth against drunk drivers but also the purpose of the Compact.” (Majority op. at 803.) That is simply not the case.
A guilty plea with civil reservation is governed by New Jersey Rule of Court 7:6-2(a)(l), which provides: “Upon the request of the defendant, the court may, at the time of the acceptance of a guilty plea, order that the plea shall not be evidential in any civil proceeding....” However, in New Jersey, the effect of such a court order in a DUI case is not that the licensee avoids the forfeiture of his or her right to operate a motor vehicle in New Jersey. The civil reservation provision of the court order applies only in civil actions brought by a third party against the licensee for damages arising out of the incident leading to the licensee's conviction for DUI. See State v. LaResca, 267 N.J.Super. 411, 631 A.2d 986 (1993).
Indeed, a conviction for DUI in New Jersey carries with it a mandatory sentence. For a first offense, the licensee is subject to a fine, a period of detainment in an Intoxicated Driver Resource Center and, possibly, a term of imprisonment. N.J.Stat. § 39:4-50(a)(l). In addition, the licensee “shall forthwith forfeit his right to operate a motor vehicle over the highways of this State for a period of not less than six months nor more than one year.”2 Id. (emphasis added). This mandatory forfeiture of the right to drive in New Jersey is not a civil consequence of the licensee's conviction for DUI; it is part of the licensee’s sentence for criminal behavior.
Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, we would give full faith and credit to New Jersey’s civil reservation provision based on the manner in which the provision is used in New Jersey. Because the civil *805reservation provision has nothing to do with a licensee’s avoidance of a license suspension in New Jersey, it can have nothing to do with the avoidance of a license suspension in Pennsylvania. Thus, contrary to the majority opinion, New Jersey’s civil reservation provision is not “more lenient” with respect to drunk drivers; it is not contrary to the Commonwealth’s policy against drunk drivers; and it is not contrary to the purpose of the Compact.
Nevertheless, I would also affirm.

. The Full Faith and Credit Clause provides:
Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.
U.S. Const., art. IV, § 1. Pursuant to this clause, Congress has prescribed as follows:
Such Acts, records and judicial proceedings or copies thereof, so authenticated, shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States and its Territories and Possessions as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State, Territory or Possession from which they are taken.
28 U.S.C. § 1738 (emphasis added).

. A licensee convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in Pennsylvania does not receive a license suspension as part of his or her sentence pursuant to section 3731 of the Vehicle Code. See section 3731 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731.