DMV Victory at a Lack of Skill Hearing at the San Francisco Driver Safety Office

Case History: California Drivers Advocates was retained to represent a client whose driver license had been completely suspended by the California Department of Motor Vehicles following a non-injury traffic collision.

Our 64 year old client is a highly educated, highly skilled Biochemist who works in the field of cancer research.   Attention to detail and critical thinking are a way of life for her.

In June 2016, our client was just leaving her home in San Carlos when she was involved in a traffic collision that brought her into the DMV’s focus.  Our client lives at the apex of a very steep hill.  The roadway in front of her home is curvy and declines at a 20% grade.  On one side of the roadway is a cliff that drops precariously about 50 feet. On the day of her accident, our client was backing out of her driveway with the intention of driving up the street and over the hill to her local market.  Once she backed out into the street, she placed the manual transmission into first gear but then failed to provide sufficient fuel and the engine stalled.

With her car now disabled, it began to roll backward and to pick up speed.  Because the engine had died, she had no “power assist” to either the brakes or the steering.  Because the grade in front of her home is so steep, she was unable to apply enough braking pressure to overcome the inertia of the rolling car.  She attempted to apply the emergency brake but that failed.  She was able to navigate her car around four parked cars on the windy road but eventually rolled backward into an unoccupied vehicle.

When the investigating Sheriff’s Deputy arrived, he turned on the ignition and then tested the brakes and steering.  Finding everything in working order, he announced that our client simply didn’t know how to react in an emergency.  Despite our client’s protests, the Deputy prepared a “Request for Regular Re-Examination” and filed it with the DMV.  When the DMV reviewed the documents, they were concerned about the serious nature of the traffic collision and the Deputy’s comments regarding our Client’s inability to drive.  Based on that, the DMV completely by-passed the Re-Examination process and moved to immediate suspension.

Essentially, the DMV decided that our client was guilty and challenged her to prove her innocence.

DMV’s Position: The California DMV’s position was crystal clear. Based on the Deputy Sheriff’s referral, the department presumed that our Client Lacked the Skill to drive.  They presumed that her traffic accident was the result of her inability to react appropriately during an emergency and that she posed an immediate threat to the motoring public.

Based on that, the DMV summarily suspended our Client’s driving privilege with little or no knowledge of the actual facts.

Our Defense: When our client retained us, we immediately went to work to schedule her Lack of Skill Hearing at the Driver Safety Office in San Francisco. We immediately filed a request to stay the suspension so that our client could continue driving during the development of her case, but the request was rejected because the DMV had already decided she was not safe to drive.

Our defense began with a detailed interview of the client to determine the details of what had occurred.  We explored her life’s history, medical history and driving history.  We examined photos of the scene and then conducted research into the braking and steering systems of her vehicle.

Because the DMV will often use a Lack of Skill Hearing as a “catch all” to examine many different areas of driving safety, we were required to prepare a broad spectrum of evidence to rebut anything the DMV may suspect as the cause of the traffic accident.

We collected medical evidence to demonstrate that our client was healthy enough to drive.  We collected evidence to address issues of roadway design.  We collected mechanical evidence to demonstrate the challenges a driver faces when driving without the aid of power-assist.  Our client attended an “on-line” driving school to demonstrate her willingness to remain abreast of the rules of the road during her term of suspension.

Finally, we spent a great deal of time preparing our client for her hearing.  It was critical that she understand her case and her defense.  It was critical that she be prepared to answer all of our questions during direct examination and to anticipate the questions that may be asked by the Hearing Officer.

At the Lack of Skill Hearing, the hearing officer accepted all of our affirmative evidence without objection and took the testimony of our client.  Because we had worked so hard to prepare our client, she testified with great emotion and credibility that made our position clear.

In the end, the hearing officer promised a written decision within one-week.  The actual decision did not arrive in the mail for more than three weeks, but when it did arrive, we had won.  Our client’s driving privilege was fully reinstated without any form of restriction or probation.

Call CDA Today.  Let us put you on the road to victory! The DMV Defense Experts at California Drivers Advocates include former police officers, DMV Hearing Officers, Investigators and Scientists.  Our training, our experience and our reputation provide any driver the best opportunity to win their Administrative Hearing.

The DMV has a practice of using the Lack of Skill hearing as a mechanism to explore many facets of a person’s ability to drive.  Entering a Lack of Skill hearing without a broad plan of defense plays squarely into the DMV’s hands and will often end badly.  Don’t let the DMV steal your driver license without a proper fight.  Call CDA today.  We can get you back on the road.