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Litterini v. Commonwealth1/15/2004
The Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (PennDOT) appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court) sustaining the statutory appeal of Matthew R. Litterini (Licensee) from a one-year suspension of his operating privilege. The suspension was prompted by Licensee's conviction in the State of New Jersey of the offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI) in violation of N.J.S.A. §39:4-50(a). We reverse the trial court.
On July 24, 2002, Licensee was convicted of DWI for conduct that occurred in New Jersey on July 11, 2002. PennDOT mailed a notice to Licensee at his record address in Pennsylvania notifying him that, pursuant to 75 Pa. C.S. §1532(b)(3) and the Driver's License Compact (Compact), 75 Pa. C.S. §1581, his driving privilege was being suspended for one year, beginning on October 9, 2002. Licensee filed a timely appeal of the suspension.
On January 9, 2003, a de novo hearing was held before the trial court, at which PennDOT's proferred documents were admitted without objection; these documents established Licensee's New Jersey DWI conviction and the notice of the one-year suspension.
Licensee testified at the hearing, admitting that he pleaded guilty to the New Jersey DWI offense but asserting that he was a New Jersey resident at the time of his conviction, having moved there on February 11, 2002. Licensee produced credible evidence of his New Jersey residence, including a copy of a written offer of employment that he received in February of 2002, a copy of his New Jersey lease, a copy of a moving relocation report, and a copy of his cable installation order for his new home in New Jersey. Licensee explained that he did not surrender his Pennsylvania driver's license and obtain a New Jersey driver's license " ecause at the time I was not aware that I had to." Reproduced Record 16a (R.R. ___ ). On cross-examination Licensee acknowledged that his Pennsylvania driver's license did not expire until August 31, 2002, five weeks after his DWI conviction on July 24, 2002.
On February 11, 2003, the trial court entered its order. Licensee was a Pennsylvania-licensed driver on the date that he was convicted of a DWI in New Jersey, but the trial court held that, because Licensee was not domiciled in Pennsylvania at the time of his conviction, PennDOT lacked the authority under the Compact to suspend Licensee's operating privilege. Accordingly, the trial court sustained Licensee's appeal, and PennDOT appealed to this Court.
On appeal, PennDOT asserts that the trial court erred as a matter of law. It contends that it is of no moment that Licensee was not a Pennsylvania resident at the time of his DWI conviction in New Jersey. He continued to operate his vehicle under authority of a Pennsylvania license, which gave PennDOT authority under the Compact to suspend his license. We agree.
The trial court based its decision upon our holding in Berner v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 746 A.2d 1207 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2000). Its reliance on Berner was, however, misplaced.
In Berner, the licensee attended school in New York but maintained a Pennsylvania driver's license. At the time of her DWI arrest in New York, the licensee produced her Pennsylvania license to the authorities. Prior to entering her guilty plea, however, the licensee surrendered that Pennsylvania license and obtained a New York driver's license. The New York Department of Motor Vehicles then reported her conviction to PennDOT, which notified licensee that her Pennsylvania operating privileges would be suspended. This Court held that because the licensee did not hold a Pennsylvania license at th
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