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Denney v. Commonwealth2/10/2004
ctive application of the Law would impose upon Denney a new legal burden of compliance with the ignition interlock requirement, which did not exist under the law in effect when he was convicted of the first DUI offense in 1989. Where, as here, the Legislature did not so declare, a substantive law should not be construed to be retroactively applicable. Morabito's Auto Sales v. Department of Transportation, 552 Pa. 291, 715 A.2d 384 (1998).
Further, the retroactive application of the Law would also implicate due process right concerns. As the United States Supreme Court held:
Once licenses are issued, ... their continued possession may become essential in the pursuit of a livelihood. Suspension of issued licenses thus involves state action that adjudicates important interests of the licensees. In such cases the licenses are not to be taken away without that procedural due process required by the Fourteenth Amendment. ... This is but an application of the general proposition that relevant constitutional restraints limit state power to terminate an entitlement whether the entitlement is denominated a 'right' or a 'privilege.'
Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 540 (1971) (citations omitted).
In Department of Transportation v. McCafferty, 563 Pa. 146, 758 A.2d 1155 (2000), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held, relying on Bell, that a person's interest in his or her driver's license is 'property,' which a state may not revoke or suspend without satisfying the due process guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Accord Pennsylvania Game Commission v. Marich, 542 Pa. 226, 666 A.2d 253 (1995). Hence, the characterization of driving as a privilege does not permit the retroactive application of the Law.
Accordingly, the order of the trial court is affirmed.
CHARLES P. MIRARCHI, JR., Senior Judge
ORDER
AND NOW, this 10th day of February, 2004, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County in the above-captioned matter is affirmed.
CHARLES P. MIRARCHI, JR., Senior Judge
Page 1 2 3 Pennsylvania DUI Attorneys
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