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James v. Davis

An administrative law judge lacked jurisdiction to review the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety's declaration that the petitioner was a habitual violator.

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In this mandamus action, the appellant, Dennis James, sought to have the trial court order the appellee, James Davis, the Commissioner of the Department of Vehicle Services to issue James a driver’s license. The trial court denied mandamus relief, and for the reasons that follow, we conclude that the trial court did not err. In April 2003, the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety1 declared James to be a habitual violator and revoked his driver’s license. James appealed that decision to an administrative law judge under the Administrative Procedures Act2 and the administrative judge ruled that James had been wrongly declared to be a habitual violator. After James unsuccessfully sought to have the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety issue him a driver’s license based on the administrative law judge’s ruling, he filed this mandamus action seeking to compel the Commissioner to reclassify him as a non-habitual violator and to issue him a driver’s license. As previously noted, the trial court denied mandamus relief, and James has now filed this appeal.

James contends that the administrative law judge’s decision is binding on the parties and that the trial court thus erred in failing to require Commissioner Davis to follow the administrative law judge’s ruling that James was not a habitual violator. Commissioner Davis, on the other hand, contends that the administrative law judge did not have jurisdiction to address the issue of James’s habitual violator status, and that therefore his ruling was not binding on the parties. We agree with the Commissioner’s contention.

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