DMV Victory at a Lapse of Consciousness Hearing at the San Bernardino DSO

Case History: California Drivers Advocates was engaged to represent a client whose driver license had been revoked by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.  The DMV took an immediate revocation action against the client’s driving privilege after they received a referral from a physician reporting that he had suffered a “Lapse of Consciousness or Control.”

Our 77 year old client had been diagnosed with kidney failure in September 2014 and began the long process of adjusting to dialysis.  To facilitate the dialysis procedure, his doctors had inserted a “port” in his chest to which the dialysis equipment would attach.  Unfortunately, the port became infected so his doctors scheduled him to have it moved to his arm.  What no one realized was the infection had exploded in his body and was reaching toxic levels.  In October 2014, he was driving to a doctor’s appointment to have the port relocated when the infection overwhelmed him.  While driving, he became disoriented and ended up many miles from his intended destination.  At one point, he thought he was following a semi-truck off of a freeway but was actually driving in the area of loading docks and his vehicle became stuck on railroad tracks.  Before he was able to react, his vehicle was struck by a freight train.  Although his car was destroyed, miraculously, he was not hurt.

Nonetheless, he was transported to an emergency room where the severity of the infection was discovered and he remained hospitalized for ten days on high doses of antibiotics.   The attending emergency room doctor prepared a Confidential Morbidity Report which indicated he had suffered a “Lapse of Consciousness or Control.”  With that, the DMV immediately revoked his driving privilege.

Unfortunately, our client didn’t understand his rights and so believed his license was gone for life.  It was more than a year before a friend referred him to us so that we could repair the damage.

DMV’s Position: The California DMV’s position was crystal clear. Because the information provided by the treating emergency room physician was that our client had suffered a “Lapse of Consciousness or Control” and because the event had occurred while driving, it was presumed he posed an immediate hazard to the motoring public and must not continue driving.  The DMV’s plan was to completely suspend/revoke the driver license for an undetermined period of time.

Our Defense: When our client retained us, we immediately went to work to enforce his rights under the Vehicle Code.

Our defense began with a detailed interview of the client to determine his medical history and the details of what had occurred.  We then embarked on a structured and focused path to collect affirmative medical evidence for our case.  Our client met with a specific series of physicians for medical examinations and then we encouraged the physicians to prepare Drivers Medical Evaluations to address each of their individual areas of medical expertise.  In each case, the reporting physicians concluded that our client’s episode of Lapse of Consciousness was isolated and completely preventable.  Each doctor concluded that the single episode was the result of an unknown infection and that it was not an indicator of future problems.

After weeks of preparation, we prepared a petition asking the Department of Motor Vehicles to “re-open” the matter and consider reinstating our Client’s driving privilege.  The DMV was sufficiently impressed with our presentation and granted our Client a “Reinstatement Interview.”

At the Reinstatement Interview, the hearing officer accepted all of our affirmative evidence without objection and considered the testimony of our client.  Because we had worked so hard to prepare our client, he testified with great emotion and credibility which made our position clear.  He quite frankly won the Hearing Officer’s heart and by the end of the hearing, the Hearing Officer said that while he had no choice but to schedule a drive test; he said that if our Client passed the drive test, he would be fully reinstated on the spot.

One week later, our client appeared at a local DMV Field Office to take the “behind the wheel” driving test.  Of course, he passed with flying colors and was immediately reinstated to full driving privileges.

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.

If your driver license has been suspended or revoked because you suffer with a physical or mental condition characterized by a Lapse of Consciousness or Control, don’t despair.  Human beings can be frail and are subject to a myriad of medical and physical maladies; however, if we can demonstrate that you are medically stable, you should be permitted to drive.  These hearings really can be won, so don’t let the DMV steal your license without a fight.