Texas Dept. of Public Safety v. Barlow

• Decision Date: 26 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. 10-98-212-CV,10-98-212-CV
• Citation: 992 S.W.2d 732
• Parties: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Appellant, v. Ben BARLOW, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 732

992 S.W.2d 732

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Appellant, v. Ben BARLOW, Appellee.

No. 10-98-212-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas Waco.

May 26, 1999.

James M. Kuboviak, Brazos County Atty., Bryan, James C. Kuvet, Hearing Atty., Texas Dept. of Public Safety, McAllen, for appellant.

Travis B. Bryan, III, David S. Barron, Bryan, for appellee.

Before Chief Justice DAVIS, Justice VANCE and Justice GRAY.

O P I N I O N

REX D. DAVIS, Chief Justice.

The Department of Public Safety ("DPS") suspended Ben Barlow's driver's license due to his refusal to provide a specimen of his breath for analysis following his arrest for driving while intoxicated. An administrative law judge ("ALJ") upheld the suspension, and Barlow appealed to the County Court at Law (the "reviewing court"). The reviewing court reversed the decision of the ALJ, and rendered judgment in Barlow's favor. DPS seeks to appeal the judgment of the reviewing court. Barlow argues in his brief that this Court does not have jurisdiction over such appeals. We agree.

PERTINENT AUTHORITIES

THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION

Article V, section 6 of the Texas Constitution establishes the jurisdiction of this Court. TEX. CONST. art. V, § 6. According to this provision, our jurisdiction extends to: (1) "all cases of which the District Courts or County Courts have original or appellate jurisdiction, under such restrictions and regulations as may be prescribed by law"; and (2) "such other [cases] as may be prescribed by law." Id.

Our jurisdiction over civil cases under article V, section 6 "is not unlimited or absolute." Gray v. Rankin, 594 S.W.2d 409, 409 (Tex.1980) (per curiam); Harbison v. McMurray, 138 Tex. 192, 196, 158 S.W.2d 284, 287 (1942); accord Texas Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Levinson, 981 S.W.2d 5, 6 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1998, pet. granted, judgm't vacated w.r.m.). Rather, it is subject to the limitations set by the Legislature. See Harbison, 138 Tex. at 196, 158 S.W.2d at 287; Levinson, 981 S.W.2d at 6.

GENERAL STATUTORY PROVISIONS

An administrative license suspension "is a civil matter." TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. § 724.048(a)(1) (Vernon 1999). The Legislature has set the limits of our general jurisdiction over civil matters in section 22.220 of the Government Code. TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 22.220 (Vernon 1988). Section 22.220 provides in pertinent part that we have jurisdiction in civil cases in which the judgment rendered or the amount in controversy exceeds $100. Id.; accord

TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 51.012 (Vernon 1997).

The Legislature has also "prescribed" our jurisdiction over other civil appeals which do not necessarily meet the jurisdictional requirements of section 22.220. See, e.g., TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE ANN. § 51.011 (Vernon 1997) (allowing appeal of county or district court judgment on certiorari from justice court); Id. § 51.014 (Vernon Supp.1999) (allowing interlocutory appeals); TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 2001.901(a) (Vernon 1999) (allowing appeal of "district court judgment" in administrative appeal); TEX. PROP.CODE ANN. § 24.007 (Vernon Supp.1999) (regulating appeals in forcible entry and detainer suits).

"APPEALS" UNDER THE IMPLIED CONSENT LAWAW

The pertinent provisions of the Transportation Code provide a two-level "appeal" from the suspension of a driver's license for refusal to submit a breath specimen. Section 724.041 authorizes a person who has received notice of suspension from DPS to obtain review of the suspension before an administrative law judge. TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. § 724.041 (Vernon 1999). The losing party may appeal the ALJ's determination to the county court at law. Id. §§ 524.041(b), 724.047 (Vernon 1999). ¹ Chapter 524 does not provide for an appeal from the judgment of the county court at law.

According to section 524.002(b), the Administrative Procedure Act (the "APA") applies to appeals from administrative license suspensions "to the extent consistent with [chapter 524]." Id. § 524.002(b). The APA is found in chapter 2001 of the Government Code. See TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. §§ 2001.001-2001.902 (Vernon 1999). The only provision for appeals in the APA is section 2001.901, which provides:

§ 2001.901. Appeal From District Court

(a) A party may appeal a final district court judgment under this chapter in the manner provided for civil actions generally.

(b) An appeal bond may not be required of a state agency.

Id. § 2001.901.

The APA does not apply to license suspensions authorized by subchapter N (suspensions for those deemed "incapable of safely operating a motor vehicle"), O, or P (automatic suspensions upon final conviction of certain offenses) of chapter 521 of the Transportation Code; chapter 522 (commercial drivers' licenses) or 601 (safety responsibility suspensions) of that Code; or article 42.12, section 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (revocations for failure to complete DWI education program or for revocation of DWI community supervision). Id. § 2001.221.

APPELLATE DECISIONS

In Texas Department of Public Safety v. Lavender, we determined that we had jurisdiction over an appeal in which a driver's license had been suspended under the former article 6701l--5 because of the licensee's refusal to provide a specimen of his breath for analysis following his arrest for driving while intoxicated. 935 S.W.2d 925, 928-29 (Tex.App.--Waco 1996, writ denied). The current statutes governing such license suspensions and appeals are substantively identical to the statutes we construed in Lavender. Compare TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. §§ 524.041-524.044, 724.047 with Act of May 29, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 886, §§ 1, 12, 1993 Tex Gen. Laws 3515, 3518-20, 3527 (repealed 1995). ²

Lavender claimed that we lacked jurisdiction "because (1) there is no specific authorization for an appeal from the county court within article 6687b--1 and (2) DPS is only allowed to appeal 'issues of law.' " Lavender, 935 S.W.2d at 927. We analyzed and rejected both of his specific jurisdictional challenges on the basis of section 2001.901 of the APA. Id. at 928-29. That is, because the APA applies to proceedings under chapter 524 of the Transportation Code (the former article 6687b--1) to the extent consistent with that chapter and because section 2001.901 of the APA authorizes appeals "in the manner provided for civil actions generally," we essentially concluded that no express provision for an appeal in chapter 524 is necessary because it is provided in the APA. Id. ³ Although we acknowledged in Lavender that section 2001.901 authorizes appeals from only "district court" judgments in administrative cases, we did not discuss the effect of this apparent limitation on our jurisdiction. See id. at 928.

The San Antonio Court of Appeals has held that, notwithstanding the "district court" terminology of section 2001.901(a), the statute also permits appeals from county courts because the APA does not require that suits be filed in district courts if another statute provides otherwise and because any other interpretation "would create disparate results" in license suspension cases transferred to district courts in counties which do not have county courts at law and in which the county judge is not a licensed attorney. Shirley v. Texas Dep't of Pub. Safety, 974 S.W.2d 321, 323 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1998, no pet.) (citing TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 2001.176(b)(1); TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. § 524.041(b)).

The Beaumont Court of Appeals addressed its jurisdiction in Texas Department of Public Safety v. Jones, 938 S.W.2d 785 (Tex.App.--Beaumont 1997, no writ). That court recognized that the courts of appeals have jurisdiction over civil matters "under such restrictions and regulations as may be prescribed by law." Id. at 786 (quoting TEX. CONST. art. V, § 6). The court then reviewed chapter 524 and determined that "[t]he only restriction of appeal" therein is found in section 524.041(d) which limits DPS's "right to appeal" "to issues of law." Id. (quoting TEX. TRANSP. CODE ANN. § 524.041(d)). Thus, the court concluded it has jurisdiction over such appeals. Id.

We now must decide whether the language of section 2001.901(a) limiting our jurisdiction to appeals from "district court" judgments in administrative cases may be construed to include appeals from county court at law judgments in such cases, as the court in Shirley determined, or whether we have jurisdiction over such appeals because the Legislature has not "restricted" our jurisdiction over them, as the Jones court concluded.

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

THE BASIC RULES

Our primary objective in construing a statute is to determine the Legislature's intent. Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Ashworth, 943 S.W.2d 436, 438 (Tex.1997) (orig.proceeding). When a statute is unambiguous, we determine legislative intent "from the plain and common meaning of the words used." St. Luke's Episcopal Hosp. v. Agbor, 952 S.W.2d 503, 505 (Tex.1997). As the Supreme Court has reiterated "many times":

Courts must take statutes as they find them. More than that, they should be willing to take them as they find them. They should search out carefully the intendment of a statute, giving full effect to all of its terms. But they must find its intent in its language and not elsewhere.... They are not responsible for omissions in legislation. They are responsible for a true and fair interpretation of the written law. It must be an interpretation which expresses only the will of the makers of the law, not forced nor strained, but simply such as the words of the law in their plain sense fairly sanction and will clearly sustain.

RepublicBank Dallas, N.A. v. Interkal, Inc., 691 S.W.2d 605, 607 (Tex.1985) (quoting Simmons v. Arnim, 110 Tex. 309, 324, 220 S.W. 66, 70 (1920)); accord Agbor, 952 S.W.2d at 505.

However, a court should "not decide the scope or meaning of statutory language by a bloodless literalism in which text is viewed as if it had no context" if such will "produce unjust, absurd, or unreasonable results." West...