Escarcega v. State ex rel. Dept. of Transp.

• Decision Date: 08 March 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-58.,06-58.
• Parties: Jesus Cervantes ESCARCEGA, Appellant (Petitioner), v. STATE of Wyoming, ex rel., WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Appellee (Respondent).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

153 P.3d 264

2007 WY 38

Jesus Cervantes ESCARCEGA, Appellant (Petitioner), v. STATE of Wyoming, ex rel., WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Appellee (Respondent).

No. 06-58.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

March 8, 2007.

Representing Appellant: R. Michael Vang of Brown & Hiser LLC, Laramie, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: Patrick J. Crank, Attorney General; Robin Sessions Cooley, Deputy Attorney General; Douglas Moench, Senior Attorney General; and Dana J. Lent, Assistant Attorney General.

Before VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and BURKE, JJ.

VOIGT, Chief Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant Jesus Cervantes Escarcega's driver's license was suspended for six months under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-107 (LexisNexis 2005) and Appellant was disqualified from operating a commercial vehicle for one year pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-7-305 (LexisNexis 2005 & Supp.2006) because he refused to submit to chemical testing after being arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol (DWUI) while operating a non-commercial vehicle. The arresting officer informed Appellant that his motor vehicle operating privileges would be suspended if he refused to submit to chemical testing, but did not inform Appellant that his commercial driver's license (CDL) would be suspended for one year. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) and, subsequently, the district court, upheld the suspension of Appellant's license and his commercial vehicle disqualification. We affirm.

ISSUE

[¶ 2] Did the OAH and district court err in upholding a CDL disqualification for refusal to submit to chemical testing in the course of an arrest for DWUI where the holder of the CDL was arrested while driving a non-commercial motor vehicle, and where the arresting officer recited the statutory implied-consent warning mandated for use during the stop of a non-commercial vehicle, but where the officer did not recite the statutory implied-consent warning for use during the stop of a commercial vehicle?

FACTS

[¶ 3] On June 16, 2004, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) sent all CDL holders a letter notifying them of changes to Wyoming's laws affecting commercial drivers, including the fact that refusal to submit to a chemical alcohol level test would result in a one year CDL disqualification under the new laws.

[¶ 4] At 4:40 a.m. on April 16, 2005, Officer Reynolds of the Rawlins Police Department stopped Appellant for speeding. Appellant was driving a non-commercial vehicle. Appellant exhibited signs of alcohol consumption and possible intoxication and the officer asked whether Appellant had been drinking. Appellant admitted to having consumed seven beers earlier in the evening and agreed to perform field sobriety maneuvers. Appellant failed adequately to perform those field sobriety tests. Officer Reynolds administered a portable breath test, which indicated a presumptive blood alcohol level of 0.20 percent. The officer placed Appellant under arrest for DWUI. Officer Reynolds then asked Appellant to submit to further chemical testing but Appellant declined to submit to those tests. The officer informed Appellant, in accordance with the requirements of Wyoming's implied consent law, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102 (LexisNexis 2005), that refusal to submit to chemical testing would result in loss of his privilege to operate a motor vehicle for six months. The officer did not inform Appellant of any consequences specifically related to Appellant's CDL. Appellant refused to submit to further chemical testing even after Officer Reynolds warned him a second time that his privileges to operate a motor vehicle would be suspended for six months if he refused to comply with the request.

[¶ 5] WYDOT issued notices of intent to suspend Appellant's driver's license for six months and to disqualify his CDL for one year.¹ Appellant requested a contested case hearing and filed written argument with the OAH requesting relief from suspension of his license and from disqualification of his CDL because the officer failed to warn him of the prospect of the disqualification when he requested that Appellant submit to chemical testing.² The OAH upheld the suspension of Appellant's driver's license and the disqualification of his CDL. Appellant requested judicial review of the OAH decision. The district court issued a Decision Letter and an Order upholding both the six-month suspension of Appellant's driver's license and the year-long disqualification of his CDL. This appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[¶ 6] This Court reviews the final judgment of a district court regarding action taken by an administrative agency under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-115 (LexisNexis 2005). We structure our review as though the appeal were directly from the agency, giving no special deference to the findings of the district court, and we apply the same standard of review used by district courts under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 16-3-114 (LexisNexis 2005). Atchison v. Career Serv. Council, 664 P.2d 18, 20 (Wyo.1983). Section 16-3-114 states, in relevant part:

(c) To the extent necessary to make a decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. In making the following determinations, the court shall review the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party and due account shall be taken of the rule of prejudicial error. The reviewing court shall:

. . . .

(ii) Hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings and conclusions found to be:

(A) Arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law;

(B) Contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege or immunity;

(C) In excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations or lacking statutory right;

(D) Without observance of procedure required by law; or

(E) Unsupported by substantial evidence in a case reviewed on the record of an agency hearing provided by statute.

[¶ 7] Appellant raises no issues of fact or evidentiary weight in this appeal. The only issue presented here is that of interpretation of Wyoming's implied consent law. We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Perry v. State ex rel. Wyo. Workers' Safety & Comp. Div., 2006 WY 61, ¶ 10, 134 P.3d 1242, 1245 (Wyo.2006). We will affirm an agency's decision if it is made in accordance with the law. Buehner Block Co. v. Wyo. Dep't of Revenue, 2006 WY 90, ¶ 11, 139 P.3d 1150, 1153 (Wyo.2006).

[¶ 8] We review a statute to determine the meaning intended by the Legislature. "If the words convey a definite meaning, which involves no absurdity or contradiction with other parts of the instrument, then that meaning apparent on the face of the instrument is the one which alone we are at liberty to say was intended to be conveyed. . . ." Rasmussen v. Baker, 7 Wyo. 117 50 P. 819, 821 (1897). "We construe the statute as a whole, giving effect to every word, clause, and sentence, and we construe together all parts of the statute in pari materia." Dep't of Revenue & Taxation v. Pacificorp, 872 P.2d 1163, 1166 (Wyo.1994).

DISCUSSION

Wyoming's Implied Consent Law

[¶ 9] Wyoming law provides that every driver on our roads is deemed to have consented to chemical testing in the course of an arrest for DWUI. The implied consent statute requires that an arresting officer warn the arrestee that refusal to submit to chemical tests will result in loss of driving privileges for six months. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102 states:

(a) If arrested for an offense as defined by W.S. 31-5-233:

(i) Any person who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a public street or highway in this state is deemed to have given consent, subject to the provisions of this act, to a chemical test or tests of his blood, breath or urine for the purpose of determining the alcohol concentration or controlled substance content of his blood.

. . . .

(ii) For tests required under this act, the arrested person shall be advised that:

(A) His failure to submit to all required chemical tests requested by the peace officer shall result in the suspension of his Wyoming driver's license or his privilege to operate a motor vehicle for a period of six (6) months for a first offense or eighteen (18) months for a second or subsequent offense as provided by W.S. § 31-6-107[.]

[¶ 10] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-7-307 (LexisNexis 2005) sets forth the warnings afforded to a driver stopped for DWUI in a commercial vehicle. Section 31-7-307 states:

(a) A person who drives or is in actual physical control of a commercial motor vehicle within this state is deemed to have given consent, subject to the provisions of this section to a chemical test or tests of his blood, breath or urine for the purpose of determining alcohol or controlled substance concentration in his blood.

. . . .

(c) For tests required under this section, the person shall be advised that:

(i) His failure to submit to all required chemical tests shall result in a disqualification of his commercial driver's license. The disqualification shall be from a minimum of one (1) year to life[.]

[¶ 11] That section provides a statutorily mandated warning of the penalties in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-7-305, under which Appellant's CDL was disqualified. Section 31-7-305 states:

(a) Any person is disqualified from driving a commercial motor vehicle for a period of not less than one (1) year if convicted of a first violation arising from separate incidents of:

. . . .

(v) Refusal to submit to a test to determine the driver's alcohol concentration while driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle[.]

[¶ 12] Appellant was in "actual physical control of a motor vehicle" at the time of his arrest and was therefore entitled to the non-commercial vehicle warnings under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102. The parties do not contest Appellant's entitlement...