San Diego DMV Administrative Per Se License Suspension Hearing

A San Diego DUI attorney has just 10 CALENDAR DAYS after the DUI arrest to make a request in writing to the San Diego DMV Driver Safety Office in order to timely demand a hearing to determine whether or not the California DMV will suspend or revoke your license or driving privilege.

The timing is critical. You waive your right to a hearing if a Request for Hearing is made after the 10 day deadline is up. California DMV will automatically suspend your privilege to drive from 4 months to 1 year unless your local San Diego DMV lawyer timely contests the action.

Due to the peculiar nature of San Diego DMV hearings and the absence of a real & independent San Diego DMV judge to offer some protection, you are strongly advised not to try to represent yourself. Because these are not San Diego DUI criminal proceedings, San Diego County public defenders are unavailable.

A San Diego DUI lawyer's defenses at an APS hearing are technical and specialized, much different than in a San Diego Superior Court DUI criminal case. Frequent San Diego DUI / DMV proof problems - as well as legal, procedural and bureaucratic issues - are possible grounds for a set aside of the suspension action and retaining one's driving privileges.

A San Diego DMV hearing for a possible license suspension is like a mini-DUI trial without a jury, but with much different San Diego DMV rules, San Diego DMV laws and San Diego DMV procedures. The San Diego DUI / DMV hearing is presided over by a DMV hearing officer, aka a DMV Driver Safety Officer - rather than a trained California Judge - an employee of the DMV not licensed in law but who acts as the three-headed collector of evidence, the prosecutor and the judge.

Here is how unfair a San Diego California DMV APS hearing can be:

• The hearing officer puts together the evidence DMV decides to use,
• The same hearing officer overrules your San Diego DMV lawyer's objections to DMV's evidence,
• The same hearing officer legally objects to the driver's evidence,
• The same hearing officer rules on her or his own objections,
• The same hearing officer dually engages your San Diego DMV lawyer,
• The same hearing officer decides to admit or not admit either party's evidence, and
• The same hearing officer ultimately rules on the sufficiency, competency and weight of evidence before (a) rendering a Notification of Findings and Decision or (b) issuing a Set Aside Order.

The San Diego Driver Safety Officer gathers and offers evidence in the form of documents and/or witnesses. The Driver Safety Officer usually offers the San Diego drunk driving / DUI police report, DMV records, San Diego DUI test record/alcohol report, and the crux of DMV's prima facie case - the San Diego DUI officer's sworn statement entitled a "DS 367" which by law must include all information relevant to the enforcement action. (California Vehicle Code section 13380)

San Diego California DMV has the burden of proof - based on the standard of a preponderance of evidence - as to all the DUI issues (set forth on the back of the original pink ORDER OF SUSPENSION served at time of arrest/detention). With no Fifth Amendment constitutional right at this quasi-civil administrative per se hearing, your San Diego DMV attorney usually will not want you to be present at the hearing because otherwise the Driver Safety Officer can call you as a witness and force you to testify against yourself if you ill-advisedly appear. Your San Diego DMV lawyer is normally attacking DMV's evidence, or lack thereof; the driver's presence may interfere with that well-recognized strategy.

The San Diego DMV Driver Safety Officer's decision will normally be mailed a few days or even weeks after the hearing. A San Diego DMV suspension can be set aside or sustained. If the San Diego DMV suspension is sustained, the decision can be appealed to the DMV in Sacramento and/or to the San Diego Superior court by filing a San Diego DMV petition for writ of mandamus.

If it is the 10th & final day to request a hearing but your San Diego DMV attorney has not yet been retained within 10 days of the arrest, you should contact the San Diego Licensing Operations Division Office yourself, request a five day extension so you can get a San Diego California DUI attorney specialist. Alternatively, if your request for an extension is denied by the San Diego DMV supervisor, request an In-person hearing, the Discovery (evidence), a Stay (stop) of the Suspension, and the Name of the Hearing Officer/Driver Safety Officer.

Please ask for the name of the person you speak with. Please do not discuss the reasons why you are contesting the suspension. The San Diego Driver Safety Office is located at 9174 Sky Park Avenue, Suite 200, San Diego [(858) 627-3901 or fax (858) 627-3925].

The San Diego DMV will probably not be able to schedule a hearing before your 30 day temporary license expires. Your San Diego DUI / DMV lawyer will request a stay of suspension and an extension of the temporary license until a San Diego DMV hearing is completed and a decision is rendered by San Diego DMV.