Didlake v. State
Didlake v. State
Opinion of the Court
¶1
Washington’s implied consent statute, RCW 46.20.308, requires that a driver arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI) pay a filing fee to obtain an administrative review hearing to prevent a driver’s license suspension or revocation. James Didlake, Dustin Johnson, Shelly Burke, Monica Fischer, and Michael Bennett (collectively Didlake) appeal a trial court decision that this “fee for hearing” requirement does not violate procedural due process. Because the driving privilege is not a fundamental right and the Department of Licensing (Department) waives the fee for indigent drivers, Didlake does not establish a constitutional due process violation. And because he received notice and a hearing, Didlake does not show that the fee requirement violated due process in his case. Therefore, he cannot prove any set of facts that would justify recovery for a procedural due process violation. We affirm.
¶2 At various times and places in 2010 or 2011, police arrested James Didlake, Dustin Johnson, Shelly Burke, Monica Fischer, and Michael Bennett for DUI. As required by Washington’s implied consent law, the Department initiated license suspension proceedings against them. Did-lake, Burke, Fischer, and Bennett each paid a $200 fee for an administrative review hearing. After they prevailed at their hearings, the Department rescinded their license suspensions. Johnson paid two fees and prevailed at one of his two hearings related to two separate arrests.
¶3 Didlake filed a class action lawsuit against the Department, asking for injunctive and declaratory relief, plus a refund and damages. He alleged that the statutory fee for an administrative hearing violates due process.
¶4 At a hearing on November 16, 2012, the trial court heard the Department’s CR 12(b)(6) motion. The court did not hear argument on Didlake’s motion for class certification.
¶5 In a memorandum opinion and order entered April 5, 2013, the trial court granted the Department’s motion to dismiss. Didlake asked the Washington Supreme Court for direct review. On March 5, 2014, the Supreme Court transferred the case to this court.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶6 When a party files an answer before filing a motion to dismiss under CR 12(b)(6), a court should con
¶7 A constitutional challenge to a statute presents a question of law that this court also reviews de novo.
ANALYSIS
Implied Consent Statute
¶8 Under Washington law, drivers in the state have given “implied consent” to testing for alcohol or drug impairment.
¶9 The arresting law enforcement officer must immediately notify the Department of the arrest and transmit a sworn report within 72 hours.
¶10 The implied consent law provides certain procedural protections to drivers. The Department must give the driver written notice that it intends to suspend or revoke the driver’s license.
¶11 At the hearing, the driver may have assistance of counsel, question witnesses, present evidence, and testify.
Standing
¶12 The parties each argue the issue of standing at some length. Most of the discussion concerns Didlake’s standing to bring claims related to a putative class. Because the trial court dismissed Didlake’s own claims, which he had standing to bring, without ruling on his motion for class certification, we do not address this issue.
Procedural Due Process
¶13 Didlake contends that the implied consent statute’s required fee for hearing violated his right to procedural due process. He appears to raise both facial and as-applied challenges, arguing that due process requires an initial hearing at no cost and that he and other members of the putative class should receive refunds of the fees they paid to obtain hearings. Both the United States and Washington State Constitutions declare that no person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
¶14 Essential elements of procedural due process include notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard.
¶15 The first factor requires a court to consider the nature of the private interest affected. In cases involving due process challenges to filing fees, both the United States and Washington Supreme Courts have held that if a fundamental interest is not involved, requiring a fee for access to court or an administrative hearing, even from indigent persons, does not violate due process.
¶16 Boddie v. Connecticut
¶17 Two years later, in United States v. Kras,
¶18 The same year, in Ortwein v. Schwab,
¶20 Washington courts have conducted a similar analysis and almost always have upheld the constitutionality of filing fees, distinguishing between fundamental and other interests. In Bowman v. Waldt,
¶21 In Housing Authority v. Saylors,
¶22 In Downey v. Pierce County,
¶23 In Morrison v. Department of Labor & Industries,
¶24 Didlake attempts to distinguish Ortwein and Saylors. He correctly notes the appellants in those cases received initial hearings at no cost. He asserts that Boddie and Kras do not control because they involved citizens seeking access to courts. By contrast, he argues, his case involves the government initiating proceedings to take away a property interest. But his arguments ignore the distinction that the United States Supreme Court and Washington courts have repeatedly found to be dispositive in filing fee challenges. Courts have consistently distinguished between fundamental interests and interests that are “solely monetary,” involving “economics and social welfare,” or even “important” or “substantial.” If the interest involved is fundamental, due process requires access for all. A fee waiver for indigent litigants accomplishes this mandate. If the interest is not fundamental, “a monetary prerequisite to an appeal is thus permissible,”
¶26 Courts have identified the driving privilege as an “important” and “substantial” but not fundamental right. Therefore, federal and state cases decided after Boddie support the constitutionality of a filing fee for access to a suspension or revocation hearing, even for indigent appellants. By providing a fee waiver for indigent licensees, Washington’s implied consent law does more than the constitution requires, and between 2009 and 2011, the State waived the fee for 36 percent of drivers who obtained a hearing.
¶27 Because the interest involved here is not fundamental and therefore no constitutional right of access to a hearing exists, we do not analyze the two remaining Mathews factors.
CONCLUSION
¶28 Because Didlake fails to establish that the implied consent statute’s fee requirement violates procedural due process, we affirm the trial court’s order dismissing Did-lake’s class action claim.
Review denied at 184 Wn.2d 1009 (2015).
While the complaint alleged both substantive and procedural due process violations, Didlake has abandoned any substantive due process argument on appeal.
Blenheim v. Dawson & Hall, Ltd,., 35 Wn. App. 435, 437, 667 P.2d 125 (1983).
Gaspar v. Peshastin Hi-Up Growers, 131 Wn. App. 630, 634-35, 128 P.3d 627 (2006).
Tenore v. AT&T Wireless Servs., 136 Wn.2d 322, 329-30, 962 P.2d 104 (1998).
M.H. v. Corp. of Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, 162 Wn. App. 183, 189, 252 P.3d 914 (2011) (citing Postema v. Pollution Control Hr’gs Bd., 142 Wn.2d 68, 122-23, 11 P.3d 726 (2000)).
CR 12(c); P.E. Sys., LLC v. CPI Corp., 176 Wn.2d 198, 203-04, 289 P.3d 638 (2012); Blenheim, 35 Wn. App. at 438.
CR 56(c).
City of Bothell v. Barnhart, 172 Wn.2d 223, 229, 257 P.3d 648 (2011).
Morrison v. Dep’t of Labor & Indus., 168 Wn. App. 269, 272, 277 P.3d 675 (2012) (citing State v. Shultz, 138 Wn.2d 638, 642, 980 P.2d 1265 (1999)).
City of Redmond v. Moore, 151 Wn.2d 664, 668, 91 P.3d 875 (2004).
Moore, 151 Wn.2d at 669.
Moore, 151 Wn.2d at 668-69.
Former RCW 46.20.308(1) (2008). In 2013, Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5912 amended RCW 46.20.308. The amendments renumbered several subsections and eliminated statutory implied consent to tests of a driver’s blood. Laws op 2013, ch. 35, § 36. The citations here refer to the law in effect at the time the appellants requested administrative hearings.
Nielsen v. Dep’t of Licensing, 177 Wn. App. 45, 49, 309 P.3d 1221 (2013) (quoting State v. Bartels, 112 Wn.2d 882, 885, 774 P.2d 1183 (1989)).
Former RCW 46.20.308(6)(e).
Former RCW 46.20.308(6)(e)(i).
Former RCW 46.20.308(6)(e)(ii).
Former RCW 46.20.308(7).
Former RCW 46.20.308(6)(a).
Former RCW 46.20.308(6)(b).
Former RCW 46.20.308(8).
Former RCW 46.20.308(8); RCW 10.101.010(3) (definition of “indigent”). As of October 1, 2012, the fee was $375. Laws of 2012, ch. 80, § 12.
Former RCW 46.20.308(8).
Former ROW 46.20.308(8).
U.S. Const, amends. V, XIV, § 1; Wash. Const, art. I, § 3.
Moore, 151 Wn.2d at 670-71 (quoting State v. Dolson, 138 Wn.2d 773, 776-77, 982 P.2d 100 (1999); Mackey v. Montrym, 443 U.S. 1, 11, 99 S. Ct. 2612, 61 L. Ed. 2d 321 (1979)).
Moore, 151 Wn.2d at 670; State v. Storhoff, 133 Wn.2d 523, 527, 946 P.2d 783 (1997) (citing Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535, 539, 91 S. Ct. 1586, 29 L. Ed. 2d 90 (1971)).
Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 332, 96 S. Ct. 893, 47 L. Ed. 2d 18 (1976).
Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 542, 105 S. Ct. 1487, 84 L. Ed. 2d 494 (1985).
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 273 (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Downey v. Pierce County, 165 Wn. App. 152, 165, 267 P.3d 445 (2011)).
Mathews, 424 U.S. at 334-35.
401 U.S. 371, 372-73, 91 S. Ct. 780, 28 L. Ed. 2d 113 (1971).
Boddie, 401 U.S. at 374.
Boddie, 401 U.S. at 382.
Boddie, 401 U.S. at 383.
409 U.S. 434, 435, 93 S. Ct. 631, 34 L. Ed. 2d 626 (1973).
Kras, 409 U.S. at 445.
Kras, 409 U.S. at 450.
410 U.S. 656, 661, 93 S. Ct. 1172, 35 L. Ed. 2d 572 (1973).
Ortwein, 410 U.S. at 660 (quoting Kras, 409 U.S. at 446).
Ortwein, 410 U.S. at 660-61.
5 19 U.S. 102, 106-07, 117 S. Ct. 555, 136 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1996).
M.L.B., 519 U.S. at 114.
M.L.B., 519 U.S. at 116 (quoting Boddie, 401 U.S. at 376).
9 Wn. App. 562, 570, 513 P.2d 559 (1973).
Bowman, 9 Wn. App. at 570 (quoting Ortwein, 410 U.S. at 660).
Bowman, 9 Wn. App. at 570.
87 Wn.2d 732, 733, 557 P.2d 321 (1976).
Saylors, 87 Wn.2d at 739, 744.
165 Wn. App. 152, 156, 267 P.3d 445 (2011).
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 157.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 158.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 165.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 167.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 166.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 167 (quoting In re Dependency of Grove, 127 Wn.2d 221, 240, 897 P.2d 1252 (1995)).
168 Wn. App. 269, 271, 277 P.3d 675 (2012).
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 273-74. By “appeal,” the court refers to an initial evidentiary review of the citations. Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 271.
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 275.
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 275.
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 275.
As Division Two observed in Downey, even the unique, nonfungible interest in a family pet is classified as a property interest under Washington law. Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 165 n.13.
Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 163.
Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 275 (quoting Downey, 165 Wn. App. at 167).
This is consistent with the holdings of numerous cases from other jurisdictions that the Department cites in its brief.
Of 28,405 DUI hearings conducted in the 2009-2011 biennium, the Department waived fees for 10,260.
See Morrison, 168 Wn. App. at 275.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James Didlake, Individually and on Behalf of All Classes of Similarly Situated Persons v. The State of Washington
- Cited By
- 28 cases
- Status
- Published