Do San Diego DMV Managers Interfere with DUI Hearing Officers’ Decisions?
You drive. You need to drive. You get arrested for DUI. Your license is taken. Can you get it back? If so, how?
The best San Diego DUI DMV defense attorneys will handle helping you get your driving privileges returned to you.
The first step is getting your license back. You only have 10 days to find the San Diego DUI lawyer of your choice. Choose a certified California DUI Lawyers Association Specialist if you are prudent.
What happens at the actual DMV administrative per se (APS) hearings? Do DMV managers really prevent a hearing officer from taking no action against a driver’s license? If a hearing officer is ready to set aside a suspension, how could managers stop the decision from being made? Read all about it here in this eye-opening San Diego DMV DUI hearing article.
San Diego DMV hearing officers have no obligation to assist a person representing himself or herself as a “pro per Respondent” in presenting any evidence or rebuttal of DMV’s case or in assisting them in the conduct of the APS hearing. This is yet another reason people should not try to represent themselves.
Click on these articles to see examples of the things San Diego DMV lawyers fight for.
DMV understands how difficult it is to successfully overturn a suspension action. DMV would rather suspend and let the lawyers fight it out in DMV lawsuits, a prohibitive cost for most clients.
What has San Diego DMV done toward that end?
Just over seven years ago, the prominent San Diego DMV Regional Manager notified all hearing officers to put their proposed “no-suspension” decisions in a special box in the DMV file room so managers could review for quality and critique the decisions prior to mailing them to drivers.
A couple weeks later, the esteemed San Diego DMV Regional Manager notified all hearing officers:
“To date, I have reviewed 17 set asides (proposed decisions not to suspend).”
The results are:
6 are good decisions;
4 are questionable need review of the recording to make determination; and
7 are unwarranted set asides.
“These results are terrible, in that we have no rookie hearing officers. Should you be responsible for any of the 7 unwarranted set asides, your manager will be discussing the case(s) with you, if they haven’t already.”
Ouch. Micro-management. Don’t the hearing officers have their own brains and rights to reason?!
As an expert on the DMV’s disciplinary system, that San Diego DMV regional manager testified in the case Prizzia v. DMV [Orange County Superior Court Case No. 30-2013-00632497-CUI-CR-CJC”] a situation where a hearing officer was disciplined for not suspending as many licenses as she or he should have. DMV’s expert witness said that employee who was simply making poor decisions in the opinion of San Diego DMV APS management. He opined upon review of the evidence in a case, it supported a suspension action but the hearing officer would issue a “set aside” order. Employer categories for that unacceptable San Diego DMV hearing officer employee work were labeled as inexcusable neglect of duty, inefficiency and/or incompetency.
And folks, that’s why DMV can get away with mailing registered owners of California vehicles: “Get a DUI – Lose Your License.”
Do San Diego DMV Managers Interfere with DUI Hearing Officers’ Decisions?