A few weeks back I was retained on a driving while license suspended case. The client was suspended administratively by the DOL for a Seattle DUI arrest which was handled by a different attorney. When I sent a subpoena to DOL to request all the driving records, and all the other documents associated with the suspension I also received the ruling from the DOL administrative hearing.

If you follow this blog you know now that when a person is arrested for a DUI they are given the choice of either taking a breath test or not. If they take the test then they face a minimum 90 day license suspension if its over the legal limit. If they don’t take the test then they face a minimum 1 year license suspension. If they want to challenge that suspension then they request a DOL hearing which is done over the telephone.

State wide there is around a 25% dismissal rate at these hearings so they are always an uphill battle. When challenging these administrative suspensions the accused has two options when it comes to the arresting officer. They can either subpoena the officer or not. This is up to the discretion of the Seattle DUI Lawyer.

In my clients case the other attorney who represented him chose not to subpoena the arresting officer and instead made a technical argument about the validity of the police report. Subsequently they lost, and now my client is dealing with a 1 year license suspension.

But reading that ruling got my thinking when should an officer be served a subpoena to appear at the DOL telephone hearing, and when shouldn’t they. I would say in my practice I subpoena the arresting officer 95% percent of the time. Maybe more. Very rarely is there going to be some technicality in the police report that will result in the license suspension.

In addition to that even if there is some minor scribners error in the report, or some technicality you have to consider who the DOL hearing officer is. Believe it or not there are some hearing officers who have lower dismissal rates than others. In my clients particular case he had one of the toughest DOL officers, one who is known to have an extremely low dismissal rate. I could have taken one look at who the DOL officer was, and what this technical argument was going to me and predicted it wouldn’t be dismissed.

Now Im not one to really second guess what another attorney does. But in my opinion you better have a clear cut, 100% you know its going to get dismissed winner to argue a DOL hearing without the officer being present.

If not then why not subpoena the arresting officer. Remember if they don’t appear than that also can get the DOL hearing dismissed, and I would say maybe 2 or 3 out of 10 times they don’t appear. But even if they do, you get a free deposition of the arresting officer without a prosecutor being present. As a Seattle DUI Lawyer, this is a dream. Think about it you can pretty much ask the arresting officer anything you want within reason, and they have to answer it.

But to each their own I guess. This is just my opinion. Remember if you have been arrested for a DUI, and you’re looking for a DUI Attorney to represent you. Give me a call anytime, and I’ll gladly go over all your options including what may happen at your DOL hearing.

I can’t tell you how many people I meet with that just ask whether they should go ahead and accept the administrative license suspension from the DOL. It usually goes something like this, “I met with another attorney they said the DOL hearings are impossible to win, so should I just not challenge it and accept the license suspension.” My response is always, “Who the hell told you that!”

I’ll admit the DOL hearings are always an uphill battle. Especially for Seattle DUI Attorneys. For a couple of reasons really. First its a civil hearing so the burden of proof is less than in a criminal case. Secondly it seems like everything is stacked against the petitioner. The “judge” works for DOL. They also act as opposing counsel or the “prosecutor” if you will. And lastly its really in DOL’s financial interests to suspend a license because they get money when the license needs to get reinstated.

Now proponents of this process will tell you thats not the case. That an individual is afforded all the due process rights, blah, blah. But the reality is in most cases if you’re arrested for a DUI then your drivers license is going to get suspended. I mean statewide there is something like a 25% dismissal rate at these hearings.

What I listed above are just a few factors contributing to that low dismissal rate. In all honesty I think what really contributes to those numbers are attorneys who just phone in the DOL hearing. In other words they think they are going to lose, they don’t spend any time preparing, and they just go through the motions at the hearing itself. Their rationale is, hey Im going to lose this hearing anyway, so why put in the time and effort. I mean after all I think thats just human nature. You get beat down so many times, you just give up.

Well thats not how my firm does it. And I think our results speak for themselves. I put everything possibly into these hearings. I really treat it like a jury trial. My goal is to have as much of the case investigated as possible at this early stage. Meaning all witnesses have been interviewed, all videos have been subpoena’d, I spend several hours preparing for the hearing, another hour or so drafting my cross examination of the officer, another hour drafting my closing argument along with having every case I need handy. Overall its not uncommon for me to spend anywhere between 10 – 20 hours preparing for this hearing. Now some Seattle DUI Lawyers probably think thats crazy, but thats just how I was raised. Not to do anything half ass.

Now obviously I don’t win every hearing. But I feel like I win my fair share, and its above the statewide average. The reason being is not because Im smarter than other attorneys (most yes), or because Im lucky. I think the reason being is because I work harder than most if not all other Seattle DUI lawyers.

If you have been arrested for a DUI and you’re deciding whether or not to go forward and challenge the suspension. Do it. What do you have to lose? Other than $200.