Doe v. Cal. Dep't of Motor Veh.

322 Cal.Rptr.3d 424

John DOE et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents,

v.CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES et al., Defendants and Appellants.

A164843

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 5.

Filed June 21, 2024

Certified for Partial Publication.^*

Trial Judge: Hon. Brad Seligman, Trial Court: Alameda County Superior Court (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. RG16805013)

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Chris A. Knudsen, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Fiel D. Tigno, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Christopher D. Beatty, Vincent Cheng, and Joshua C. Irwin, Deputy Attorneys General, for Defendants and Appellants.

East Bay Community Law Center, Miguel Soto, Jr.; Sidley Austin LLP, David R. Carpenter, Nicole M. Baade, Los Angeles, Jaime A. Bartlett, Sara B. Brody, and Matthew Henry, San Francisco, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP, Steven P. Lehotsky and Gabriela Gonzalez-Araiza for Lyft, Inc. as Amicus Curiae.

SIMONS, Acting P.J.

The rights to privacy set out in our state constitution and various statutes are among our most cherished. But they are not without limit. We consider those limits in the context of the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) disclosure of alcohol-impaired driving license suspensions and reverse the trial court’s decision restricting those disclosures.

The DMV compiles driving records and provides them to prospective or current employers, insurance companies, and a variety of other requesters. License suspensions imposed by DMV, including those related to alcohol-impaired driving, are included in these records, even when no criminal conviction has resulted. These suspensions remain on the driving record for three years after the suspension itself ends.

We address whether DMV may also include on this publicly disclosed driving record the reason for such a suspension—for example, that the driver had an excessive blood-alcohol level—when the driver has not been convicted. The plaintiffs argue this practice effectively discloses information about a nonconviction arrest and, therefore, violates constitutional and statutory privacy prohibitions. We disagree: the disclosure of the reason for a DMV suspension issued for alcohol-impaired driving does not constitute the disclosure of information about a nonconviction arrest within the meaning of these privacy provisions.

FACTUAL AND LEGAL BACKGROUND

A. The Public Driver Record

DMV discloses portions of a person’s DMV record to members of the public under certain circumstances. We refer to this as the "public driver record."¹

1. Contents

The public driver record contains the driver’s name; identifying information such as eye color and height; and license number, class, and status. It also includes sections entitled "Departmental Actions," "Convictions," "Failures to Appear," and "Accidents." (Capitalization altered.) Li- cense suspensions are shown in the "Departmental Actions" section.²

Driving-related convictions, accidents, and suspensions are not disclosed on the public driver record indefinitely. Certain convictions are disclosed for ten or seven years from the date of occurrence; for example, a driving under the influence (DUI) conviction is disclosed for ten years. (§ 1808, subd. (b)(1)–(2); see also § 1803, subds. (a)–(b) [identifying convictions required to be reported to DMV].) All other convictions and all accident reports are disclosed for three years. (§ 1808, subd. (b)(3).) All suspensions are disclosed while in effect. (§ 1808, subd. (c).) Certain suspensions are not disclosed after the suspension terminates; all others are disclosed for three years after the suspension ends. (§ 1808, subd. (c).)³

For each suspension disclosed, the public driver record includes the date the suspension began and, if no longer in effect, the date it ended. It also includes the statute authorizing the suspension, for example, "13352," referring to section 13352; and the "Reason" for the suspension, for example, "Excessive blood alcohol level."⁴ (Capitalization altered.)

2. Authorized Recipients

There are three categories of authorized recipients of public driver records.

First, employers of certain drivers must participate in a program whereby the employer receives public driver records annually and any time a conviction, accident, suspension, or other adverse license action is added. (§ 1808.1, subds. (b)–(c).) This program is referred to as the "Employer Pull Notice" or "EPN" program. Drivers covered by this program include tractortrailer operators, bus drivers, taxi drivers, and drivers for rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft. (§ 1808.1, subd. (k); Pub. Util. Code, §§ 5431, subd. (c), 5444.) These employers are subject to criminal penalties for employing as a driver a person with a suspended license. (§ 1808.1, subd. (f).)

Second, individuals or organizations with a "legitimate business need" for public driver records may establish an account with DMV to obtain these records. (§ 1810.2, subds. (a) & (c).) These account holders are referred to as "commercial requesters." Examples of legitimate business needs include an insurance company’s need to conduct a risk analysis for a driver and an employer’s need to determine the driving record of a prospective employee whose job is not covered by the EPN program.

Finally, "casual requesters" are all other individuals or organizations requesting a public driver record. (§ 1810; see also Cal. Code Regs., tit. 13, § 350.02(c).) Persons requesting their own public driver record are casual requesters. All other casual requesters must identify a permissible use before obtaining a public driver record. Permissible uses include legitimate business uses and uses in connection with a civil, criminal, administrative, or arbitral proceeding. An example of an impermissible use, which would result in DMV rejecting the record request, is a desire to "get back at" someone who cut off the requester on the freeway.

Persons are not notified when DMV sends their public driver record to an employer as part of the EPN program or to a commercial requester. Persons are notified when DMV sends their public driver record to a casual requestor, but are not notified in advance of the disclosure.

B. License Suspensions

A driver’s license can be suspended by a court or by DMV. (See generally §§ 13100-13559.) DMV is authorized or required to suspend a license in certain circumstances. Some of these circumstances relate to driving; for example, accruing a certain number of traffic violation "points" (§§ 12809, subd. (e), 12810.5, 13359); failing to submit to a required reexamination (§ 13801); driving without insurance (§ 16070); or being convicted of certain vehicle-related crimes (e.g., §§ 13350, 13351, 13351.5, 13352). Others have no relation to driving; for example, failing to pay fines or fees (§ 13364), failing to comply with a court order (§ 13365.5), failing to satisfy a damages judgment (§ 16370), or failing to pay child support (Fam. Code, § 17520, subds. (a)(2), (e)(3)).

The category of DMV suspensions at issue here result from driving with a certain blood-alcohol concentration or refusing to submit to chemical testing.⁵ (§§ 13353, 13353.1, 13353.2.) A suspension pursuant to these statutes is commonly referred to as an "administrative per se" or "APS" suspension "because it does not impose criminal penalties, but simply suspends a person’s driver’s license as an administrative matter upon a showing the person was arrested for driving with a certain blood-alcohol concentration, without additional evidence of impairment."⁶ (MacDonald v. Gutierrez (2004) 32 Cal.4th 150, 155, 8 Cal.Rptr.3d 48, 81 P.3d 975.)

The APS suspension process begins after a peace officer makes a DUI arrest⁷ and submits to DMV "a sworn report" (§ 13380, subd. (a)), using a form created by DMV for this purpose called the DS-367. The officer’s report includes "a statement of the officer’s grounds for belief that the person violated" the relevant statute, as well as the results of any chemical testing or documentation of the person’s refusal to submit to testing. (§ 13380, subd. (a).) At the time of the arrest, the officer must serve the person with notice of an order of suspension effective 30 days from service. (§§ 13382, subds. (a)–(b), 13388, subd. (b), 13389, subd. (b).)

When DMV receives the officer’s sworn report, it conducts an administrative re- view of the suspension, which must be concluded before the suspension’s effective date. (§§ 13553, subd. (d), 13553.1, subd. (d), 13553.2, subd. (d), 13557, subds. (a) & (c).) DMV reviews the officer’s report and any evidence accompanying the report and determines whether, by a preponderance of the evidence, the record establishes that the officer had reasonable cause to believe the violation occurred; the person was arrested; and either the person was driving with a prohibited blood-alcohol level or refused to submit to a chemical test and was told refusal would result in a suspension. (§ 13557, subds. (a), (b)(1) & (3).) If DMV finds any required fact not proven by a preponderance of the evidence, it must rescind the order of suspension. (§ 13557, subd. (b)(2) & (4).) If DMV finds the required facts proven, it sustains the suspension. (§ 13557, subd. (b)(1) & (2).) Suspensions range from four months to three years, depending on the underlying violation and any prior DUI convictions or APS suspensions. (§§ 13353, subd. (a), 13353.1, subd. (a), 13353.3, subd. (b).)⁸

In addition to or instead of this administrative review, the person may request an administrative hearing on the same facts at issue in the administrative review.⁹ (§ 13358, subds. (a) & (c).) If the request is made within 10 days of receiving the order of suspension, the hearing must be held before the suspension’s effective date. (§ 13558, subd. (d).) "The administrative hearing is held before either the director of the DMV, a hearing board or, more usually, a department hearing officer (§ 14104.2, subd. (a))."...