California DMV
This is not the website of the California DMV
Immediate Driving Suspension for a Drunk Driving Arrest (Admin Per Se)
SUSPENDED FOR DUI? WARNING: REQUEST A HEARING WITHIN 10 DAYS: You probably were given a pink notice of suspension and temporary driver's license (Form DS-367) at the time of your arrest or release from jail. The DMV wants to suspend your driver's license for anywhere from 4 months (first offense with blood alcohol over 0.08%) to 3 years (third or more offense with chemical test refusal) as a result of your drunk driving arrest. This is an entirely separate proceeding from the criminal prosecution.
Contrary to what it says on the form, you do not have to show that the suspension is not justified - the DMV has to show that the suspension is justified. The statement that you have to show the suspension not justified is a significant and very misleading statement of the law. The DMV has the burden of proof, not you.
You have only 10 days to request a hearing, or you will be suspended for the appropriate time. If the hearing is not requested within 10 days, you will likely never be permitted to fight it.
IT'S WORTH FIGHTING: According to the DMV's own statistics for a recent year, 34% of all persons who were suspended for DUI at the time of their arrest kept their driver's license by requesting a hearing to fight the suspension. Hiring an experienced and knowledgeable attorney increases the odds of winning to somewhere between 40% and 70%, depending upon the skills of the lawyer, hearing location and the particular hearing officer that your case is assigned to. But the attorney's edge against the DMV begins with the hearing request, which can sometimes be more complicated than it might seem, due to the DMV's frequent failure to follow the law as it is written. Nevertheless, if you need to request a hearing without the help of an attorney the link below contains a form for you to use to do that. And in any event, even you are planning on hiring an attorney, you'll want to read the helpful information on the form.
Click here for a DMV 10-Day Hearing Request.
Demand a Hearing Within 30 Days: Your attorney can use this points and authorities form for a motion at the DMV, and a later Superior Court writ, to demand a set aside of an APS suspension for failure to hold a hearing and decide the matter more than 30 days after a DUI arrest.
Stop Unnecessary Delays and Added Expense: This points and authorities form is for your attorney to use to contest a to continuance of the DMV hearing that the hearing officer grants him or herself with for an invalid reason - usually to bring in a witness that they should have known they needed in before the hearing started.
DMV Driver's License Suspension and Revocation Guidelines
The links below connect to the California DMV's official disciplinary guidelines for use in driver's license hearings in actions based on grounds related to negligent operator, commercial, certificates, endorsements, physical and mental conditions, fraud and lack of insurance. They are authorized by Title 13, Cal. C. of Regs. §110.04 (13 C.C.R. Û110.04).
- Guidelines for Actions Against the Driving Privilege Based on the Negligent Operator Treatment System (NOTS) (Rev. 2/01).
- Policies and procedures for negligent operator point counts under Vehicle Code §12810, negligent operator hearings and decisions, and fatal and serious injury accidents (Vehicle Code §13800). Click here for a list of point counts assigned various traffic offenses and violations. Regarding negligent operator hearings based upon fatal and serious injury accidents, also see, D.M.V., Division of Driver Safety, DSP 90-28 (October 3, 1990), which is commonly understood among driver safety hearing officers to require, at a minimum, a one-year driving privilege revocation for any at-fault fatal accident. To the extent that this memo is relied upon for that purpose, or any other policy-describing purpose, it is an illegal underground regulation under the terms of Gov. C. § 11340.5 and 11342. Contact the California Office of Administrative Law for further information.
- Guidelines for Actions Against the Commercial Driving Privilege (Rev. 2/99)
- Guidelines for Actions Against Driver's License Certificates and Endorsements (Rev. 2/99) - Certificates include: ambulance, school bus, farm labor, hazardous materials, paratransit, radioactive materials, developmentally disabled, youth bus and tow truck. Endorsements include: double trailer, hazardous materials, tank vehicle, passenger transportation and triple trailer.
- Guidelines for Actions Against the Driving Privilege Based on Physical and Mental Conditions (Rev. 2/99) - Evaluation, Dementia, Diabetes, Lapse of Consciousness, and Vision Conditions.
- Guidelines for Actions Against the Driving Privilege Based on Fraud (Rev. 2/99) - Suspension for fraudulent driver's license.
- Guidelines for Actions Against the Driving Privilege Based on Financial Responsibility (Rev. 2/99) - Suspension for lack of insurance or other evidence of financial responsibility.
