Sharp v. Department of Public Safety

• Decision Date: 30 June 1959
• Docket Number: No. 4872,4872
• Citation: 114 So.2d 121
• Parties: Jesse D. SHARP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 121

114 So.2d 121

Jesse D. SHARP, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 4872.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 30, 1959.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 31, 1959.

Horace R. Alexius, Jr., Covington, for appellant.

N. Cleburn Dalton, Baton Rouge, for appellee.

Before LOTTINGER, TATE and REID, JJ.

TATE, Judge.

By this suit plaintiff seeks restoration of his driver's license and auto license plate. Plaintiff was involved in a motor vehicle accident at a time when the operation of his vehicle was not covered by a policy of liability insurance. Upon plaintiff's failure to post security sufficient to cover the damages sustained by the other motorist ($1,684.50), his driver's license and automobile registration were suspended by the defendant Department in accordance with the mandatory statutory requirements of the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Law (Act 52 of 1952), LSA-R.S. 32:851 et seq.

The sole basis for the relief demanded by plaintiff is his allegation that the cited legislative act is unconstitutional. His suit was dismissed upon an exception of no cause of action, and he appeals.

Plaintiff centers his attacks upon Sections 5, subds. A and B (LSA-R.S. 32:872, subds. A, B) of the statute. It is therein provided that uninsured motorists and owners of uninsured vehicles involved in accident causing bodily injury or death or property damage exceeding one hundred dollars must, with certain exceptions not here applicable¹, post such security as the defendant Department shall determine as 'sufficient * * * to satisfy any judgment or judgments for damages resulting from such accident as may be recovered' against the motorist or owner (but not to exceed certain statutory limits, LSA-R.S. 32:876), in default of which the drivers license and/or motor vehicle registrations of the uninsured persons concerned shall be suspended.

Plaintiff contends that these provisions offend due process requirements of our State and federal constitutions because: (a) the licenses of an uninsured motorist may be suspended even though (as is alleged to be the present case) he is completely free of any negligence contributing to the accident; (b) the defendant department is given the power to determine the amount and type of security required without plaintiff motorist having any 'right to determine whether or not this security is just or unjust.'

In Hughes v. Department of Public Safety, La.App., 79 So.2d 129, we noted that all of the continental states of the Union have enacted either compulsory insurance or financial responsibility acts in response to the social problem posed by uncompensated victims of financially irresponsible motorists. Forty-two of them have financial responsibility statutes similar to Louisiana's by which, to avoid license suspension, the owner and/or operator of an uninsured vehicle involved in an accident must deposit security to cover the damages resulting from that accident, even though no judgment has been rendered holding him liable therefor. Comment, 'The Louisiana Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act,' 27 Tul.L.Rev. 341 (1953). The constitutionality of such license suspension provisions has been upheld without exception. See Annotation, 'Validity of Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Laws', 35 ALR 2d 1011, esp. pp. 1021--1025.

We agree with the courts of our sister states that enactments such as the present, providing for the suspension when involved in an accident of an uninsured driver's or vehicle's license without a prior hearing and without any determination of fault, do not offend due process; especially since provision for subsequent court review or stay order (see LSA-R.S....