State v. Kuhlman, A06-568.

• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Hanson
• Citation: State v. Kuhlman, 729 N.W.2d 577 (Minn. 2007)
• Decision Date: 05 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. A06-568.,A06-568.
• Parties: STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Daniel Alan KUHLMAN, Respondent.

729 N.W.2d 577

STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Daniel Alan KUHLMAN, Respondent.

No. A06-568.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 5, 2007.

Lori Swanson, Attorney General, Saint Paul, MN, Mary Ellen Heng, Minneapolis, MN, for Appellant.

Howard I. Bass, Bass & Peck, PLLC, Burnsville, MN, for Respondent.

Faison T. Sessoms, Jr., Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Minneapolis, MN, for Amicus Group.

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

OPINION

HANSON, Justice.

In September 2004, the Minneapolis City Council enacted Minneapolis Code of Ordinances sections 474.620 to 474.670, which authorized photo enforcement of traffic control signals. The Minneapolis police began enforcing the new ordinance in July 2005, and on August 11, 2005, one of the cameras photographed a car as it failed to stop at a red light at the intersection of West Broadway Avenue and Lyndale Avenue North. The Minneapolis Police Department mailed a citation to the registered owner of the car, respondent Daniel Alan Kuhlman, for violating the ordinance. Kuhlman challenged the ordinance, arguing that it conflicted with state law and violated the due process rights of registered owners. The district court granted Kuhlman's motion to dismiss without reaching the constitutional issues, holding that the ordinance conflicted with state law. The court of appeals affirmed the dismissal. State v. Kuhlman, 722 N.W.2d 1, 2 (Minn.App.2006). We affirm.

Ordinance section 474.640 penalizes an owner of a motor vehicle whose car is photographed running a red light: "If a motor vehicle is operated in violation of section 474.630 [running a red light] and the violation is detected by a recorded image taken by an automated traffic law enforcement system, the owner of the vehicle or the lessee of the vehicle is guilty of a petty misdemeanor." Minneapolis, Minn., Code art. 1, § 474.640 (2004) (emphasis added). The ordinance further provides, in section 474.660 entitled "Evidence," that

(a) In the prosecution of a violation, as set forth by section 474.640, captured by an automated traffic law enforcement system, prima facie evidence that the vehicle described in the citation was operated in violation of this section, together with proof that the defendant was at the time of such violation the owner or lessee of the vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a rebuttable presumption that such owner or lessee was the person who committed the violation. The presumption shall be rebutted if the owner or lessee:

(1) Provides a sworn affidavit delivered by United States mail to the city or agency that he or she was not the owner or lessee of the vehicle at the time of the alleged violation and provides the name and current address of the person operating the motor vehicle at the time of the violation; or

(2) Submits a copy of a police report showing the vehicle had been reported as stolen in a timely manner before the date of the violation.

(b) If the city or agency finds that the person named in the citation was not operating the vehicle at the time of the violation or receives evidence under paragraph (a)(1) of this section identifying the person driving the vehicle at the time of the violation, the city or agency shall issue a citation to the identified driver through the United State mail, no later than fourteen (14) days after receipt of this information.

Minneapolis, Minn., Code art. 1, § 474.660 (2004).

Section 660(a)(1) suggests that an owner will remain liable, even if he or she provides the name of another person who operated the vehicle, unless the owner also proves that he or she was not the owner at the time of the alleged violation. But an affidavit submitted by Minneapolis police in response to Kuhlman's motion to dismiss states that police will not issue a citation to both the vehicle owner and the person the vehicle owner identifies as the driver, and acknowledges that courts cannot convict both the owner and driver of the same violation. At oral argument, the state further explained that if a vehicle owner identifies another person as the driver, the ordinance charge against the owner would be dismissed and the driver would be charged, but the driver would not be charged under the ordinance because the ordinance only provides for owner liability, not driver liability. Instead, the driver would be charged under the Minnesota Traffic Regulations ("the Act"), Minn. Stat. ch. 169 (2006), which imposes liability on motor vehicle drivers for red-light violations. See Minn.Stat. § 169.06, subds. 4(a), 5(a) (2006).

The Act also requires that its provisions "shall be applicable and uniform throughout this state and in all political subdivisions and municipalities." Minn.Stat. § 169.022 (2006). The Act does not provide owner liability for traffic light violations.

The district court dismissed the state's case against Kuhlman, deciding that the Minneapolis ordinance conflicts with the Act. The district court reasoned that the ordinance and the Act cover the same subject matter but that the Minneapolis ordinance provides fewer "due process protections" than are guaranteed to vehicle owners who are prosecuted under the Act. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the district court, reasoning that (1) an owner-liability ordinance would impede state-wide uniformity and therefore conflicts with the Act; and (2) because the ordinance actually seeks to penalize drivers, rather than owners, it again conflicts with the statute because the ordinance imposes a lesser burden of proof on the state. Kuhlman, 722 N.W.2d at 6-8.

The question before us is very narrow, whether the Act, and specifically Minn.Stat. §§ 169.06 and 169.022, preempt the Minneapolis ordinance. This is a question of law that we review de novo. Peterson v. BASF Corp., 675 N.W.2d 57, 69 (Minn.2004), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 544 U.S. 1012, 125 S.Ct. 1968, 161 L.Ed.2d 845 (mem.) (2005).

Generally, "municipalities have no inherent powers and possess only such powers as are expressly conferred by statute or implied as necessary in aid of those powers which have been expressly conferred." Mangold Midwest Co. v. Village of Richfield, 274 Minn. 347, 357, 143 N.W.2d 813, 820 (1966). Minneapolis is a homerule-charter city with a general welfare clause, and as such has some power to enact traffic regulations, but those traffic regulations are not valid if they are in conflict with state law. See Minn.Stat. § 410.015 (2006); State v. Sugarman, 126 Minn. 477, 479, 148 N.W. 466, 467 (1914).

To consider whether the ordinance conflicts with the Act, we begin with Minn.Stat. § 169.022, which imposes a uniformity requirement on traffic regulations throughout the state:

The provisions of this chapter shall be applicable and uniform throughout this state and in all political subdivisions and municipalities therein, and no local authority shall enact or enforce any rule or regulation in conflict with the provisions of this chapter unless expressly authorized herein.

We have held that this "provision requiring uniformity and statewide application clearly showed the legislative intent to preempt this field except for the limited local regulation the statute expressly permitted." Mangold, 274 Minn. at 359, 143 N.W.2d at 821; see also Duffy v. Martin, 265 Minn. 248, 252, 121 N.W.2d 343, 346 (1963) ("In order to provide uniformity in traffic regulations throughout the state, our legislature has prohibited the enactment of ordinances by municipalities in conflict with state statutes, at least since 1911, except where expressly authorized." (footnote omitted)). But we have further held that even though the state has preempted the field of traffic law, "`no conflict exists where the ordinance, though different, is merely additional and complementary to or in aid and furtherance of the statute.'" City of St. Paul v. Olson, 300 Minn. 455, 456, 220 N.W.2d 484, 485 (1974) (quoting Mangold, 274 Minn. at 352, 143 N.W.2d at 817). If the ordinance covers specifically what the statute covers generally it does not conflict with the statute. Id. at 457, 220 N.W.2d at 485.

We have applied the preemption doctrine in the context of traffic regulations in three principal cases, Olson, Duffy, and State v. Hoben, 256 Minn. 436, 98 N.W.2d 813 (1959). In Olson, the defendant, charged with violating a Saint Paul ordinance prohibiting unreasonable acceleration, challenged the ordinance on the ground that it conflicted with state law. 300 Minn. at 455-56, 220 N.W.2d at 484-85. We determined that the ordinance did not conflict with state law because state law contained a general prohibition against careless driving and unreasonable acceleration was one form of careless driving. Id. at 456-57, 220 N.W.2d at 485. Because the ordinance covered specifically what the statute covered generally, we held that the ordinance did not conflict with state law. Id. at 457, 220 N.W.2d at 485.

In Duffy, a district court had given jury instructions in a civil action relating to the actions drivers must take before moving a parked car. 265 Minn. at 251-52, 121 N.W.2d at 345-46. The state statute required that the person should not move a vehicle "`unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.'" Id. at 251, 121 N.W.2d at 346. The Minneapolis ordinance used the same standard, but also required the person to give a hand signal. Id., 121 N.W.2d at 346. We held that the Minneapolis ordinance was invalid because it "adds a requirement that is absent from the statute." Id. at 254-55, 121 N.W.2d at 347-48. We emphasized that "[t]he purpose of uniformity required by our statutes is to enable a driver of a motor vehicle to proceed in all parts of the state without the risk of violating an ordinance with which he is not familiar." Id. at 255, 121 N.W.2d at 348.

In Hoben, the defendant was convicted without a jury of violating an Edina ordinance for driving an automobile while intoxicated. 256 Minn. at...