Meyer v. State, Dept. of Revenue, 05CA0489.

• Decision Date: 24 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05CA0489.,05CA0489.
• Citation: 143 P.3d 1181
• Parties: Dennis MEYER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE of Colorado, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, MOTOR VEHICLE DIVISION, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Page 1181

143 P.3d 1181

Dennis MEYER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE of Colorado, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, MOTOR VEHICLE DIVISION, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 05CA0489.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. IV.

August 24, 2006.

Law Offices of Crespin & Wilson LLC, Stuart D. Crespin, Marion Wilson, Fort Morgan, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

John W. Suthers, Attorney General, Robert H. Dodd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant.

Opinion by Judge CARPARELLI.

Defendant, Colorado Department of Revenue (the Department), appeals the district court's order reversing an administrative order that revoked the driver's license of plaintiff, Dennis Meyer (the driver). We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. Procedural History

The driver was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in January 2004. At the license revocation hearing, he sought to suppress the results of blood tests on grounds that the arresting officer lacked reasonable suspicion to make an investigatory stop and lacked probable cause to arrest him.

The Department found that the police officer had grounds to investigate and that the driver operated a motor vehicle with an unlawful blood alcohol level. Consequently, the Department revoked the driver's driving privileges for three months. Based on this incident, the driver was also charged in a county court criminal proceeding with driving under the influence, driving under the influence per se, and driving without proof of insurance.

While his criminal case was pending in county court, the driver appealed the Department's ruling to the district court and requested a stay of the Department's action pending judicial review. In his petition for district court review, the driver alleged, among other things, that the Department erred by finding the officer had reasonable grounds for arrest. The court first granted the stay, but then vacated it after the People filed a motion to dismiss the stay.

The driver then filed an opening brief in support of his appeal of the revocation order and argued that there was no reasonable suspicion or probable cause to support the police officer's stop of his vehicle. The driver asserted that because the police officer did not have reasonable suspicion, the investigatory stop was unlawful, and any evidence obtained as a result of the stop must be suppressed.

The driver also raised the suppression issue in his criminal case. The county court held a hearing on the driver's motion to suppress. After the hearing, the court issued a written order finding "no grounds for reasonable suspicion that [the driver] was committing, had committed or was about to commit a crime" when the police officer stopped his vehicle. The county court then suppressed the evidence and dismissed the charges. Subsequently, the driver filed a motion in the district court that was reviewing the Department's action for the immediate reversal of the revocation of his driver's license based on res judicata. The Department did not file a response to the driver's motion for reversal.

In January 2005, the district court reversed the revocation of the driver's license, concluding that the doctrine of res judicata barred relitigation of the issue of whether the stop was lawful. The court found that the issue of whether the police officer had reasonable suspicion or probable cause to initiate contact with the driver had already been decided in the county court suppression hearing and was identical to the issue pending before the district court. Further, the court found there was identity and privity between the District Attorney and the Department, the Department had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the county court hearing, and because the Department did not file a response opposing the motion, the driver's motion to reverse was deemed confessed. The court reversed the Department's revocation order and reinstated the driver's driving privileges.

The Department then filed a motion to reconsider. It argued that the dismissal of criminal charges had no effect on a driver's license revocation; pursuant to Wallace v. Department of Revenue, 787 P.2d 181 (Colo. App.1989), the Department was not precluded from making independent determinations of the same issues; the issues involved were not identical; and an individual may be subjected to criminal and civil sanctions for the same act.

When the district court denied the Department's motion to reconsider, it treated the driver's petition for review as if it had been filed under C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4), and found that because the record before the county court and the Department were identical, "both decision-makers should come to the same conclusion [regarding the motion to suppress] as a matter of law." The court also deemed the Department's failure to file a response to the driver's motion as a confession of the motion and concluded that the Department "considered the fact that the evidence before [the Department] was virtually the same as that before the County Court, and that the result should, for that reason, be the same." Although the court noted that the Department could make a determination regarding reasonable suspicion or probable cause independent of the county court's ruling in the criminal case, the district court held that the legal effect of undisputed facts was a question of law and that the legal conclusions of the Department and county court should be the same. The district court also found that the Department did not sufficiently prove excusable neglect to justify its failure to oppose the motion and that the Department inexcusably failed to inform the court of the holding in Wallace, supra.

Although the Department only appeals the district court's first order, reversing the revocation, because the court further explained its rationale in the second order denying the Department's motion to reconsider, we will review the court's ruling in light of the explanations in both orders.

II. C.R.C.P. 121

The Department asserts that the district court erred when it deemed the driver's motion for reversal confessed pursuant to C.R.C.P. 121 § 1-15 based on its failure to file a responsive brief. We agree.

Although C.R.C.P. 121 § 1-15.1 does not require a party to respond to an opponent's motion, § 1-15.3 reflects a preference that the nonmoving party respond. A response promotes efficiency by informing the court of whether the motion is opposed, providing the court with argument and authorities, and enabling the court to determine whether oral argument is necessary. See City & County of Denver v. Ameritrust Co., 832 P.2d 1054 (Colo.App.1992). A trial court may consider a party's failure to file a response to a motion as a confession of the motion. C.R.C.P. 121 § 1-15.3.

However, courts favor the resolution of disputes on their merits. Craig v. Rider, 651 P.2d 397 (Colo.1982). Accordingly, a court may not deem a motion for summary judgment to have been confessed by a failure to respond. Instead, the burden remains on the moving party, who must still establish all the requirements for summary judgment under C.R.C.P. 56. Seal v. Hart, 755 P.2d 462 (Colo.App.1988). Similarly, when the defendant in a lawsuit is not a private party, but an officer or agency of the state, the plaintiff is not entitled to default judgment without first establishing the right to relief based on the merits of the case. C.R.C.P. 55(e).

Here, the court did not grant a motion for default or summary judgment. However, the court's determination that the Department confessed the driver's res judicata motion resulted directly in a favorable disposition of the driver's petition for district court review. Because the driver was the moving party, he had the burden to establish his contention that res judicata applied and required reversal of the Department's action.

We conclude that the court erred to the extent that it denied the Department's motion for reconsideration and supported its ruling regarding confession of the driver's motion on the ground that the Department inexcusably failed to inform the court of the holding in Wallace, supra. The driver had the burden to establish the merits of his motion, and the court was required to apply the applicable case law.

Therefore, we conclude that the district court abused its discretion when it deemed the driver's res judicata motion confessed and, on that basis, reversed the Department's ruling. Because the court also considered the merits of the driver's res judicata motion and reversed the revocation order on that basis, we now address that issue.

III. Preclusion

The Department contends that the district court erred when it concluded that the doctrine of res judicata applied based on the outcome of the driver's suppression hearing in his criminal case. We agree.

The district court reversed the Department's revocation by concluding that, under the doctrine of res judicata, the Department was bound by the county court's conclusion that the officer lacked probable cause because it was based on the same evidence that was presented to the hearing officer.

We review the district court's legal conclusions de novo. Lakeview Assocs., Ltd. v. Maes, 907 P.2d 580 (Colo.1995); Ocmulgee Props. Inc. v. Jeffery, 53 P.3d 665 (Colo.App. 2001).

A. Terminology

The supreme court now uses the terms "claim preclusion" and "issue preclusion" instead of "res judicata" and "collateral estoppel." Argus Real Estate, Inc. v. E-470 Pub. Highway Auth., 109 P.3d 604 (Colo.2005). Although the terms have been used interchangeably in previous opinions, "use of the phrases `res judicata' and `collateral estoppel' can lead to confusion because `res judicata' is commonly used as an overarching label for both claim and issue preclusion." Argus Real Estate, Inc. v. E-470 Pub. Highway Auth., supra, 109 P.3d at 608 (citing Migra v Warren City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 465 U.S. 75, 77 n. 1, 104 S.Ct. 892,...