JOSEPH FERREI, PETITIONER,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES, RESPONDENT

Fla. 2d DCA | 2012-07-06
No. 2D12-79
DAVIS and MORRIS, JJ., Concur.
91 So. 3d 920 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2012) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Joseph Ferrei petitioned for certiorari review of a circuit court order denying his challenge to a license suspension based on his refusal to submit to a breath test. The Second District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that a hearing officer must consider whether the refusal was incident to a lawful arrest, and remanded for the circuit court to determine whether Ferrei had an adequate opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of the stop in a criminal proceeding.


Holding

The hearing officer is required to determine whether the refusal to submit to a breath test was incident to a lawful arrest. The circuit court must consider whether a criminal proceeding provided an adequate mechanism for the driver to challenge the lawfulness of the stop, and if a lower tribunal determines the stop was unlawful, it may decide whether the breath test evidence is admissible.


Headnotes

[1] A driver whose license is suspended for driving with an unlawful blood-alcohol level must be afforded an opportunity to challenge the legality of the traffic stop, even i…

[2] The administrative review of a driver's license suspension for driving with an unlawful blood-alcohol level must include a determination of the lawfulness of the traffic…

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Key Quotes

“an individual's driver's license may be suspended due to his or her refusal to submit to a breath test, but only if the refusal to submit to the test is incident to a lawful arrest”

Establishes the legal prerequisite for license suspension based on breath test refusal

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Facts & Procedural History

Joseph Ferrei's driving privileges were suspended based on his refusal to submit to a breath test. Ferrei sought certiorari review in the circuit cour…

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Opinion of the Court
WHATLEY, Judge.

WHATLEY, Judge.

Joseph Ferrei petitions this court for a writ of certiorari to review an order of the circuit court which denied his petition for writ of certiorari. Mr. Ferrei had sought certiorari review in the circuit court of an administrative order sustaining the suspension of his driving privileges. Mr. Fer-rei contends that the circuit court departed from the essential requirements of law in ruling that the hearing officer was not required to consider the legality of the stop and arrest in reviewing the license suspension.

In Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Hernandez, 74 So.3d 1070, 1073 (Fla.2011), the Florida Supreme Court held that an individual’s driver’s license may be suspended due to his or her refusal to submit to a breath test, but only if the refusal to submit to the test is incident to a lawful arrest. The supreme court further held that in a hearing conducted by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, a driver may challenge whether his or her refusal to take the breath test was incident to a lawful arrest. Id. The court directed that the hearing officer is required to “make the determination of whether the test was administered incident to a lawful arrest, as required by section 316.1932, Florida Statutes.” Id. at 1079.

Following Hernandez, this court has issued four opinions pertaining to a driver’s right to challenge the lawfulness of the arrest and each case involved a slightly different factual scenario. Roark v. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, — So.3d -, 2012 WL 1870863 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (petitioner submitted to breath test and results indicated blood alcohol level between .129 and .136, and petitioner pleaded guilty to reckless driving and may have had opportunity to challenge legality of stop in criminal proceeding); Lawrence v. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 93 So.3d 350, 2012 WL 1870868 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (petitioner refused to submit to breath test, and petitioner pleaded guilty to reckless driving and may have had opportunity to challenge legality of stop in criminal proceeding); Rudolph v. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, — So.3d -, 2012 WL 1869927 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (petitioner submitted to breath test and results indicated blood alcohol level between .129 and .137, and criminal charges were dropped by State before she had the opportunity to challenge legality of stop); Arenas v. Dep’t of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 90 So.3d 828 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012) (petitioner refused to submit to breath test and criminal charges were dropped by State before he had the opportunity to challenge legality of stop). In the present case, Mr. Fer-rei submitted to a breath test and the results indicated a blood alcohol level between .146 and .147. Unlike the previous four cases, the record in the present case does not reflect whether Mr. Ferrei was charged with the criminal offense of driving under the influence. See § 316.193, Fla. Stat. (2010).

Although Mr. Ferrei has never had an opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of his stop in this civil administrative proceeding, he may have had such an opportunity in a criminal proceeding. Thus, in addition to the mechanisms suggested in Arenas, the circuit court is permitted to consider whether a criminal proceeding provided an adequate mechanism to challenge the lawfulness of the stop. If a lower tribunal determines that the stop was unlawful, it is still permitted to decide *922whether the breath test evidence is admissible. We express no opinion on these issues.

Petition for writ of certiorari to the circuit court granted for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

DAVIS and MORRIS, JJ., Concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Ferrei v. Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles, 147 So. 3d 1030 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)
    …Joseph Ferrei seeks certiorari review of a circuit court order denying his motion for clarification. We have jurisdiction, see Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(2)(B), and grant the petition. ’ In Ferrei v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, 91 So. 3d 920 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012), we quashed a circuit court order that denied Mr. Ferrei certio-rari relief from an administrative decision upholding the suspension of his driver’s license. See §§ 322.2615(1), (6), (14), .31, Fla. Stat. (2008). We directed the c…
  • Dorn v. DHSMV (15th Cir. Ct. App. Div. 2013)
    …Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Hernandez, 74 So. 3d 1070, 1073 (Fla. 2011). Whether or not a breath test is incident to a lawful arrest is within a Hearing Officer's scope of review. Id. at 1077; Ferrei v. Dep't of Hwy. Safety & Motor Vehicles, 91 So. 3d 920, 921 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). Although the Hearing Officer found that the arrest was lawful, there was not competent substantial evidence from which the Hearing Officer could have concluded that the Petitioner was lawfully stopped. Officer Walsh failed…

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