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DMV Hearing

DMV Hearing Lawyer

What does the DMV have to prove at the DMV hearing in Los Angeles to take your driver's license away? At the DMV hearing in a DUI case pending, the DMV hearing officer must prove that you were legally stopped (in other words, the police must have probable cause to stop you), lawfully arrested (the police are going to have to claim you failed their tests to capture you lawfully) and that your blood alcohol level was a .08 or greater or that you refused to take the test.

If all three of these things can be proved, then they will suspend your driver's license. The length of the suspension depends on your criminal record and a host of other factors.

On the other hand, if they can not prove one of the above, then the suspension must be set aside. You will have ten days from the date of your DUI arrest to file a request for an Administrative Per Se hearing.

Understanding the DMV Hearing

Unfortunately, the DMV hearing is not conducted like a court proceeding. There is no judge and no jury to argue your case to.

The case is argued to a DMV hearing officer whose job is to put on the evidence for the Department of Motor Vehicles, rule on objections, and decide the case in the end (it's a bit of a Kangaroo Court). The bottom line, related to DMV defense, is that you must have an angle to win.

DMV Hearing in Los Angeles

Not only that, your Los Angeles DMV hearing lawyer must have the skill and know-how to ram the argument home with the biased hearing officer.

I have been fighting DMV hearings for the past twenty-five years and can honestly say that you can not beat the DMV unless you have an angle (an argument that prevents them from proving what is necessary to take your license).

And, that angle will have to be clear and prevent the hearing officer from proving what they must to suspend your license.

When I meet with clients regarding the DMV hearing and their driver's licenses, I am always straightforward and honest about their chances and whether I see an angle to win.

Many other people advertising on the web use salespeople to rope in their cases.

The problem with this is that the salespeople do not appear in court and do not battle with the DMV. They are simply following a script that does not know about your situation.

You owe it to yourself to meet with a DUI attorney who has been around the block and will tell you the truth about your situation.

California Driver's License Suspension

The DMV keeps track of your points in the Negligent Operator Treatment System (NOTS). What will happen with my driver's license if I have a DUI case pending? The simple answer to this question is that the DMV will try and take it away from you for some time.

Your best defense to this is to hire a seasoned DUI attorney that has handled many DUI cases and knows how to deal with the DMV. If the DMV is not contacted within ten days, then even the best DUI defense lawyer will not help you with the suspension.

Scheduling a DMV Hearing

Once the DMV is contacted, a hearing is set between them and your attorney. A stay is placed on any suspension that is supposed to affect your driver's license, and eventually, a hearing date will be set.

The DMV is then responsible for sending all relevant police reports and evidence to your Los Angeles DUI lawyer to prepare for the upcoming hearing.

At this point, you should set an appointment with a local DUI attorney and let them address all of your questions that are specific to your particular situation.

Once you have been educated on how the system works, you can then begin handling your DUI to a logical step-by-step successful conclusion. A DUI charge consists of two main parts: the criminal court process and the DMV hearing.

Our driving under-the-influence lawyers is here to handle both parts for you. We believe the DMV hearing is just as necessary as the court proceedings, and we are just as aggressive with the DMV as we are in the courtroom.

The 10 Day Rule

After being arrested for a DUI, you have ten days to schedule a hearing with the DMV, and failure to do so results in automatic license suspension.

As your DUI lawyer, we will schedule your hearing, attend your hearing, and be by your side throughout the whole process. Do not waste any time, and contact our drunk driving lawyers if you have been arrested for driving under the influence.

The DMV hearing does not affect the outcome of your criminal case, but the DMV hearing is what determines whether your license will be suspended or not.

Our DUI lawyers prepare for your DMV hearing as if we were preparing for a trial. We put all our effort and ability into getting you the best possible results. Our objective is to prevent your license from getting suspended.

How Does the DMV Process Work?

For those people who are arrested and charged with a DUI in California, in addition to having to deal with the criminal court and getting a ticket to go into criminal court or having to post bail to go into criminal court, they're also going to have to deal with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, otherwise known as the DMV.

The DMV controls the license.  The courthouses handle your criminal record and whether or not you go to jail. In California, having a license is extremely important, so when you hire your attorney, make sure that you and your attorney coordinate regarding what will happen with the DMV. 

You're entitled to have a DMV hearing, and you want to make sure that your attorney is the one that gets that hearing for you, in my opinion.

I've often seen clients call the DMV themselves, attempting to do the right thing but only getting tricked by the DMV hearing officer. They end up not getting their hearing and not getting notice to the DMV that they call within ten days, and they automatically lose their DMV hearing and sustain a suspension of their driver's license.

So, talking about the process of the DMV, when the officers arrest you and ultimately let you go either on bail or with a citation, they're typically going to give you the DMV paperwork that says you have to call the DMV within ten days, and it explains your rights. 

Usually, you should contact an attorney and immediately give your attorney that paperwork and let the attorney call the DMV for you to set up a hearing.  Once the hearing is set up, that will typically resolve in you getting to use your driver's license for longer than the standard 30 days. 

The reason is that the DMV is pretty busy, so getting a hearing within 30 days of your arrest is tricky. So, you get to drive until you get your hearing as long as you do everything the right way, and of course, that will be done by your attorney calling the DMV. So, we tell them we're the attorney of record. 

We want a hearing and a stay on any suspension until you get the hearing, and they will grant that as long as we do it in 10 days. So another critical thing we do is fax them a letter indicating that we called within ten days and requested the hearing. 

That way, they can't make a claim, as they've done to many of my clients, that we never called because they'll do that, and how you prove that you did it is the fax that we sent in that's date-stamped that protects us against them doing that. Once the hearing comes up, the hearing officer is tasked with putting on the evidence for the DMV.  They're usually going to use the police report.

If there's an issue, sometimes they'll call the police officer as a witness, and the defense attorney will get to cross-examine that police officer. In the end, the DMV hearing officer is going to decide whether or not:

  • you were legally stopped,
  • your blood alcohol level was .08 or greater,
  • you were legally arrested.

If they determine those three things are true, they will take your driver's license away, depending on whether it's your first, second, third, or fourth DUI and whether or not it was a refusal. You never want to refuse to take the test because it's presumed you were a DUI, and you lose your driver's license for a year with no restricted license.

So, that gives you an idea of the process of the DMV.  After the hearing, the DMV will send a letter to your attorney and to you, and they will let you know their decision.  If they take your driver's license away, you'll see when the suspension goes into effect.

Dealing with the DMV Related to a DUI Case

The DMV controls what happens to your license, so if you were arrested for a DUI, the officer is going to send your driver's license to the DMV, along with their report to try to get your driver's license suspended or revoked, so you're going to want to get on it immediately. 

Hire an attorney immediately to contact the DMV, set up a hearing, and do everything possible to protect and preserve your driver's license. The best way to handle them is to let your attorney take them.  Don't try to do it yourself.  You have ten days to call and set up things with the DMV.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen clients come in after the 10th day, confused, lost, and unclear about precisely what's going on with their case, and they've done something that did not help themselves. 

One of the hearing officers tricked them when they called in, who claimed they never received the call. So you've got to let an attorney take care of it.  That's the bottom line.

You must let some attorney handle things with the DMV because the reality is that the DMV is a kangaroo court, and they will do everything they can to take your driver's license away. 

They're notorious for just doing what they want to do.  They don't care what anybody says.  So, if you can beat them, you want to use that chance with an attorney. If you can't beat them, the attorney will do everything possible to limit the damage to your driver's license.

The critical thing is to pick up the phone now.  Ask for a meeting with Ron Hedding.  I've been doing this for 30 years.  I've had many battles with the DMV.  I've had much success and know what it takes to get the best result. So pick up the phone and ask for a meeting with Ron Hedding. 

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