DMV & The 10 Day Notice Rule

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Upon arresting you, the Officer may have taken your license at the scene of the arrest and gave you a pink piece of paper in its place upon your release (allowing you to drive unrestricted for 30 days).

 

Why? Because, California law allows law enforcement to suspend your privilege to drive immediately upon suspicion that you are DUI.  California has jurisdiction over all California drivers licenses.

 

Exceptions to Officer confiscation of license:

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• Out of State Licenses– California has no jurisdiction to take another State’s property. The out of state license holder still needs a DMV hearing requested, if not, they will lose the right to drive in California and if their home state is a member of Compact, their home state will suspend their license upon California’s notification. 48 out of the 50 states are a member of this compact agreement.

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• Drug DUI– When the officer believes that you are solely under the influence of a drug that is not alcohol. In this instance, no DMV hearing is required as the DMV has no APS hearings for DUI involving drugs alone.

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• When you blow under .08% – If you select breath and are 21 years or older, and your alcohol level is under .08%, the officer has no authority to take your license, but he can still arrest you and the D.A. can still prosecute the case.

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The 10 Day Rule: YOU ONLY HAVE 10 DAYS AND NO, THEY ARE NOT BUSINESS DAYS...EVERY DAY COUNTS!

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You can stop the suspension! 

 

The specific office of the Department of Driver Safety, which handles the law enforcement agency that stopped you, must be called and notified within 10 calendar days of the date of arrest, informing them that you desire an APS hearing and stay of suspension (this is separate from the Court hearing) to contest the suspension.

 

They will send you a longer lasting temporary license and set a date for that hearing. On the day of the hearing, they will present evidence and your attorney will argue errors & insufficiencies, found within the documents to destabilize the DMV’s case in an effort to win the hearing and get you back your license.

 

If you fail to have the proper DMV office called within 10 calendar days of the arrest, you are denied the hearing and the license is automatically suspended 30 days after the date of arrest.

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CALL US.  WE WILL CALL THE DMV FOR YOU AS PART OF OUR REPRESENTATIONAL RESPOSNIBILITIES!

 

 

The DMV Admin Per Se hearing:

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The hearing has 3 hearing issues with a voluntary breath or blood test and 4 issues with a test refusal:

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• Lawfulness of Detention- lack of sufficient observations, as stated in the police report to establish probable cause or reasonable suspicion to detain you.

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• Lawfulness of Arrest- lack of sufficient observations as stated in the police report to establish probable cause to arrest you, usually based upon field sobriety exercises results.

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• Whether you were .08% or greater alcohol level 

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If a refusal to voluntarily test, the .08% issue is replaced by the following:

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• Proper Admonishment of the consequences of a refusal- Whether you were properly admonished as to the penalties associated with a refusal.

 

• Did you refuse to take or fail to complete the chemical breath or chemical blood test.

 

DMV Hearing Result:

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A hearing Win= return of your license

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A hearing Loss= suspension of license;  duration is not negotiable and is set by law as to its duration (see below).

 

Suspension Durations for DMV hearing loss:

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The suspension penalties are the same for a DMV hearing loss as it would be if you failed to request a timely hearing:

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Under 21– 1 year suspension.  May apply for a critical need to dry restriction.

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First DUI– 4 month suspension- may restrict immediately.

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Second DUI– 1 year suspension- may restrict immediately.

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Third DUI– 1 year suspension- may restrict immediately.

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Felony DUI– 1 year Revocation 

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Refusal to test– 1 year suspension- no ability to restrict for employment.

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Commercial License Holders -lose the commercial endorsement for a year, but may reapply at that time.  A second DUI while holding a commercial endorsement is a lifetime California ban from driving a commercial vehicle if the prior DUI conviction in court, occurred 2015 or thereafter.

 

Note 1: A wet reckless conviction counts as a prior DUI as does a prior DMV hearing loss, whether you were convicted of the DUI in the past case or not (DMV purposes).

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Note 2: A court conviction for DUI will result in a different suspension, regardless of a win at the DMV level.

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Note 3: Suspension periods may compound if you have more than one issue at the same time ex. a refusal to test on a DUI with a prior is a 2 year suspension etc…

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License Restriction:

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To turn a suspended license into a full driving privilege restricted driver license.  This is done when a driver desires to start driving before the full suspension elapses. How to restrict?  Read on…

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• You must do the following to prepare for the restriction after a DMV suspension for DUI:

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• Obtain a driving history from DMV or their website dmv.gov​

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• Obtain an SR-22 insurance guarantee– this must be in force for 3 years.  It ensures that you remain insured, because if the insurance company cancels you or you cancel them, the DMV is notified by the DMV and the DMV then immediately suspends your license.

 

• Be enrolled in the alcohol program -appropriate to your offense prior history (3 (first DUI) or 18 month program (2+ DUI)

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• IID Breath Machine to start your car

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• Pay $125.00 to the DMV on the day of application for the restriction. ​

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