Kovalesky v. Commonwealth3/10/2004
Before the Court is the Department of Transportation (DOT), Bureau of Driver Licensing's (Bureau) appeal of the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County sustaining the statutory appeal of Curtis John Kovalesky (Licensee). Licensee had appealed his one-year license suspension pursuant to Section 1532(b)(3) of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C.S. §§1532(b)(3), and Article IV(a)(2) of the Driver's License Compact (Compact), 75 Pa. C.S. §1581.
Numerous issues were raised on appeal. However, because we determine that nunc pro tunc relief was not warranted, we need not decide the other issues.
On April 24, 2002, Licensee, a Pennsylvania resident, was convicted in West Virginia of driving while under the influence of a measurable amount of alcohol while under the age of 21, W. Va. Code §17C-5-2(h) (2002). Thereafter, West Virginia notified the Bureau of the conviction by sending a conviction report. Consequently, on July 9, 2002, the Bureau issued a notice to Licensee indicating that his license was suspended pursuant to Article III of the Compact, because the West Virginia offense was similar to Section 3731 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C.S. § 3731 (relating to driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substance). Pursuant to this notice, Licensee voluntarily surrendered his license to the Bureau on August 8, 2002. Nearly two months later, on October 31, 2002, Licensee filed a petition to appeal the suspension nunc pro tunc.
In support of his nunc pro tunc petition, Licensee had attached the following documents: 1) a notice dated January 30, 2002 from the Licensing Authority of West Virginia indicating that his license was suspended based upon his January 19, 2002 arrest and that he had the right to administrative review of this revocation; 2) a letter dated April 29, 2002, from the prosecuting attorney in the criminal case, which had a copy of the conviction order, dated April 24, 2002, attached to it, in which the court accepted Licensee's plea of no contest to "the charge of Driving with A Measurable Amount"; 3) a notice from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation indicating that it was suspending his license for one year " s a result of your 4/24/2002 conviction in West Virginia"; 4) an order dated August 30, 2002, from an administrative hearing as to his West Virginia license suspension in which the Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles reversed the January order of revocation of his reciprocal motor vehicle privilege on the basis that the state of West Virginia had failed to present any evidence at the administrative hearing; and, 5) a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, dated August 16, 2002, acknowledging receipt of his Pennsylvania driver's license.
Licensee argued that nunc pro tunc relief was appropriate because there was a "breakdown in the court operation." Specifically, he argued that the breakdown occurred because, his reciprocal driving privileges in West Virginia had been restored in August 2002 following an administrative appeal and that, consequently, his Pennsylvania drivers' license, which had been suspended several weeks earlier as a result of the April conviction, should similarly be restored. The trial court, without an opinion or explanation, permitted Licensee to appeal nunc pro tunc.
At a subsequent hearing on the merits of the appeal, Licensee's counsel argued that, under the Compact, the home state was required to give the same effect to the conviction as the reporting state did: "The licensing authorities of the home state for purposes of suspension, revocation, or limitation of license to operate a motor vehicle shall be given the same effect to the condu
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