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Dunn v. Commonwealth3/19/2003
Submitted: November 22, 2002
The Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (Department) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County that sustained Mark Ed Dunn's appeal from the Department's suspension of his driving privileges because of multiple violations of Section 13 of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act (Drug Act), Act of April 14, 1972, P.L. 233, as amended, 35 P.S. §780-113. The Department presents two questions for review: whether the trial court abused its discretion in sustaining Dunn's appeal and vitiating his suspensions rather than remanding the matter to the Department for correction of the defective notices of suspension and whether the trial court erred in ruling that the Department had unduly delayed in issuing the notices of suspension.
Dunn committed various violations of Sections 13(a)(16) and 13(a)(30) of the Drug Act on April 20, 22 and 29, 1993. On September 12, 1994, Dunn was convicted in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County for twelve of those violations. For unknown reasons, the court did not forward reports of the convictions to the Department until on or about January 16, 2001. Additionally, each and every report erroneously listed the date of violation as April 20, 1993 and the date of conviction as November 29, 2000 (the date of a later parole hearing). By six notices dated May 18, 2001 and five notices dated May 21, 2001 the Department notified Dunn that it was suspending his driving privileges for consecutive one-year periods running from June 23, 2001 through June 22, 2012. Each of the eleven notices repeated the erroneous information that the suspension was for a violation that occurred on April 20, 1993 and that the corresponding date of conviction was November 29, 2000.
Dunn filed an appeal and a de novo hearing was held on January 17, 2002. No witnesses testified at the hearing, but the Department submitted into evidence certified copies of the relevant conviction reports and notices of suspension. Counsel for the Department explained that, because many of the 1994 convictions involved lesser-included charges, the Department would consent to the court's granting Dunn's appeal for eight of the eleven suspension notices. For the three remaining suspensions, counsel for the Department stated that the term of each suspension should be reduced from one year to six months because the underlying violations were first-time offenses. The Department's counsel also noted that the suspension notices contained erroneous dates of violation and conviction and that those errors originated in the court's conviction reports, and he moved that the Department be allowed to amend to reflect the correct dates.
Counsel for Dunn argued that her client's appeal should be sustained for all of the eleven suspensions, because the suspension notices were not issued until nearly seven years after the convictions and all of the notices contained erroneous dates of violation and conviction. The Department had failed to provide Dunn with proper, timely notice of the bases for the suspensions. Although counsel for the Department reiterated that it was the court and not the Department that was responsible for the errors and delay and that the court's negligence could not be held against the Department, the trial court concluded that the untimely and defective notices violated Dunn's due process rights and sustained his appeal of all of the suspensions.
Dunn contends that the eleven notices of suspension violate his procedural due process rights because all of the notices contain erroneous dates of violation and conviction and because the notices were not issued until nearly seven
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