Bendorf v. Commissioner of Public Safety, A05-1484.

• Decision Date: 15 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. A05-1484.,A05-1484.
• Citation: 727 N.W.2d 410
• Parties: Charles J. BENDORF, Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

727 N.W.2d 410

Charles J. BENDORF, Petitioner, Appellant, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Respondent.

No. A05-1484.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

February 15, 2007.

Jeffrey S. Sheridan, Strandemo, Sheridan & Dulas, Eagan, MN, for appellant.

Mike Hatch, Minnesota Attorney General, Jeffrey F. Lebowski, Assistant Attorney General, Sean R. McCarthy, Assistant Attorney General, Peter D. Magnuson, Assistant Attorney General, St. Paul, MN, for respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

GILDEA, Justice.

Charles J. Bendorf appeals from a district court order sustaining the revocation of his driver's license. Bendorf argues that because his license was revoked pursuant to a statute that we declared unconstitutional in Fedziuk v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 696 N.W.2d 340 (Minn. 2005), he is entitled to rescission of his license revocation as a matter of procedural due process. The court of appeals affirmed the revocation of Bendorf's license. Bendorf v. Comm'r of Pub. Safety, 712 N.W.2d 221 (Minn.App.2006). We granted Bendorf's petition for review and now affirm.

Bendorf was arrested on March 13, 2005, for driving while impaired, in violation of Minn.Stat. § 169A.20 (2006). Bendorf was administered a chemical test to measure alcohol concentration, and he failed the test. Consequently Bendorf's driver's license was administratively revoked for 90 days, pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 169A.52, subd. 4 (2006).¹ The revocation was effective on March 20.² The next day, pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 169A.53 (2006), Bendorf filed a petition for judicial review of the revocation of his driver's license. The hearing on Bendorf's petition was scheduled for June 23—94 days after Bendorf petitioned for judicial review.

On March 28, 2005, Bendorf filed a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking the temporary reinstatement of his license. The district court granted Bendorf's motion and issued a written order on March 29, temporarily reinstating Bendorf's driver's license "pending the decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court in Fedziuk."³ Thus, Bendorf was without driving privileges for nine days.

The judicial hearing on Bendorf's petition was held after we issued our opinion in Fedziuk. The question presented in Fedziuk was whether the 2003 amendments to Minn.Stat. § 169A.53 violated drivers' procedural due process rights. Before the 2003 amendments, the statute provided that hearings on petitions for judicial review were to be held "at the earliest practicable date, and in any event no later than 60 days" after the petition had been filed. Minn.Stat. § 169A.53, subd. 3 (2002). The 2003 amendments eliminated this language from the statute. Act of May 28, 2003, ch. 2, art. 9, § 13, 2003 Minn. Laws 1st Spec. Sess. 1445, 1451.

In Fedziuk, we held that the 2003 amendments to section 169A.53 were unconstitutional because the statute as amended did not provide a sufficiently prompt and meaningful postrevocation review. Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 346-48. We then revived the version of section 169A.53 that existed immediately prior to the 2003 amendments. Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 349. This version included the requirement that hearings on petitions for judicial review be held "at the earliest practicable date, and in any event no later than 60 days" after the filing of the petition. Minn.Stat. § 169A.53, subd. 3 (2002). After our decision in Fedziuk, the legislature amended the statute, effective August 1, 2005, to restore the language in place before the 2003 amendments. Act of June 2, 2005, ch. 136, art. 18, § 4, 2005 Minn. Laws 901, 1158.

In support of his petition for judicial review, Bendorf argued that his license revocation "must be rescinded because the version of the implied consent law under which [his] license was revoked was found to be unconstitutional" in Fedziuk. The district court concluded that even though the hearing was not held within 60 days of the date Bendorf filed his petition, Bendorf suffered no prejudice because he was granted a stay of his revocation until the hearing. The court issued an order sustaining the revocation of Bendorf's license. Bendorf appealed and the court ordered the commissioner to temporarily reinstate Bendorf's license pending his appeal. The court of appeals affirmed. Bendorf, 712 N.W.2d at 224.

We are asked to address whether Bendorf was deprived of his right to procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the Minnesota Constitution.⁴ This constitutional question involves the application of law to undisputed facts. Accordingly, our review is de novo. See Minn. Voyageur Houseboats, Inc. v. Las Vegas Marine Supply, Inc., 708 N.W.2d 521, 524 (Minn.2006); Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 344.

Bendorf offers two arguments to support his claim that his license revocation must be rescinded. First, he argues that because his license was revoked under a version of section 169A.53 that we declared unconstitutional, the revocation must be rescinded. Second, he argues that even if the version of section 169A.53 revived in Fedziuk is construed to apply to this case, his right to due process was violated because the hearing on his petition for judicial review was held more than 60 days after he filed his petition. We address each argument in turn.

I.

Bendorf first argues that his license revocation must be rescinded because his license was revoked under the version of Minn.Stat. § 169A.53 that we struck down in Fedziuk. The commissioner responds by citing Fedziuk's revival of the version of the statute in effect before the 2003 amendments. See 696 N.W.2d at 349. But Bendorf argues that the revived statute cannot apply to his case because the revival was meant to apply only prospectively—to cases arising after Fedziuk— and his case was pending when Fedziuk was decided.

Under the general rule, the holding of Fedziuk—reviving the version of section 169A.53 that existed prior to the 2003 amendments—would apply to Bendorf's case because Bendorf's case was pending when Fedziuk was decided. See Kmart Corp. v. County of Stearns, 710 N.W.2d 761, 767 (Minn.2006) (noting that generally our decisions apply retroactively); B.M.B. v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 664 N.W.2d 817, 826 (Minn.2003) (same). We have recognized exceptions to this general rule in only limited circumstances. Kmart, 710 N.W.2d at 767-68.

Bendorf argues that we should make an exception for Fedziuk under the analysis conducted in Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971).⁵ The Chevron test requires that three factors be present for a decision to be given prospective-only application. See Kmart, 710 N.W.2d at 768. The first factor requires that the decision establish "a new principle of law, either by overruling clear past precedent on which litigants may have relied, * * * or by deciding an issue of first impression whose resolution was not clearly foreshadowed." Chevron, 404 U.S. at 106-07, 92 S.Ct. 349. Even without specific reference to Chevron, we have ruled that our decision announcing a new rule would apply only prospectively. See, e.g., State v. Scales, 518 N.W.2d 587, 593 (Minn.1994) (noting that a new rule requiring that tapes be made of all custodial interrogations "will apply prospectively from the date of the filing of this opinion"). But we made no such ruling in Fedziuk.

We made no such pronouncement in Fedziuk because we did not set forth a new principle of law or overrule prior precedent in that case. Rather, our decision in Fedziuk revived a law that had been substantially the same since 1982 and reaffirmed our prior cases construing that version of the statute. Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 344-45. We noted that "Heddan, Davis and Hamilton recognize that the 1982 changes to the Implied Consent Law that permitted the prehearing revocation of drivers' licenses were firmly within [constitutional limits]." Id. at 349; see also Hamilton v. Comm'r of Pub. Safety, 600 N.W.2d 720, 724 (Minn.1999); Davis v. Comm'r of Pub. Safety, 517 N.W.2d 901, 905 (Minn.1994); Heddan v. Dirkswager, 336 N.W.2d 54, 65 (Minn.1983). And we said there was "no reason to disturb this precedent." Fedziuk, 696 N.W.2d at 349. Because Fedziuk did not establish a new principle of law or overrule prior precedent, the first factor of the Chevron test is not met. We need not examine whether the other two factors⁶ weigh in favor of a purely prospective application of Fedziuk where, as in this case, the first factor is not met. See B.M.B., 664 N.W.2d at 826 (examining only the first factor); Streich v. Am. Family Mut. Ins. Co., 358 N.W.2d 396, 398 (Minn.1984) (same).

Because Fedziuk does not meet the test set forth in Chevron, and because we did not specifically rule in Fedziuk that our holding was to be given prospective-only application, we hold that Fedziuk applies to Bendorf's case.

We said in Fedziuk that "[w]hen a statute is unconstitutional, it is not a law and it is as inoperative as if it had never been enacted." 696 N.W.2d at 349; see also Minn.Stat. § 645.20 (2006) ("If any provision of a law is found to be unconstitutional and void, the remaining provisions of the law shall remain valid * * *."). Based on our ruling in Fedziuk, we conclude that Minn.Stat. § 169A.53 as it existed immediately prior to the 2003 amendments is properly applied to Bendorf and to all other similar cases that arose between August 1, 2003—the effective date of the 2003 amendments—and August 1, 2005—the effective date of the 2005 amendments that restored the language that was in place before the 2003 amendments.

II.

Bendorf next argues that his right to procedural due process was violated even if the version of section 169A.53 that existed immediately prior to the 2003 amendments is applicable to his case. Bendorf cites the 60-days language in the statute and suggests that if the statute was unconstitutional without the language, then conducting a hearing more...