Case Law Update - Commercial Drivers' License

Recently the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals decided that sections 302.700 through 302.755, RSMo, do not violate the Missouri Constitution's prohibition on retrospective application of a law.  In Pearson v. Director of Revenue, Pearson, who held a commercial drivers' license, was convicted in Illinois in 2002 of driving while his license was suspended or revoked. He was driving a commercial vehicle at the time.   In December of 2005 Pearson received a notice from the Missouri Department of Revenue notifying him that because of his 2002 conviction of driving while license suspended or revoked, he would have his commercial license suspended for 1 year.  Pearson filed a petition for review and the trial court reinstated his license because sections 302.700 through 302.755 did not go into effect until September 30, 2005 and was not a disqualifying event at the time the conviction arose.  The Director of Revenue appealed the trial court's decision.

Article I, Section 13 of the Missouri Constitution prohibits the enactment of any law that is retrospective in its operation.  Laws that create a new obligation, imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability with respect to transactions or considerations already past are retrospective in operation.  Because a drivers' license is not a vested right but a privilege, the statutes do not take away a vested right.

The Eastern District reversed and remanded the trial court's decision to reinstate Pearson's license.  It found the the sections applicable in Pearson's case, did not create any new duties on Pearson, only used his past conduct to determine future decision-making by the Department of Revenue.

This is another example of how your past conduct can come up to haunt you in your future. 

Source:  Pearson v. Director of Revenue, ED88625, 07/10/2007.