A man who failed a breath test won a court case today in the Kansas Court of Appeals.
The case from Wyandotte County District Court was reversed and dismissed by the Kansas Court of Appeals.
The man had appealed a district court order affirming the suspension of his driving privileges for failing a breath test.
A hearing officer in administrative proceedings with the Kansas Department of Revenue had withdrawn the first administrative order that dismissed a suspension against him and then reinstated it for a second hearing.
The man argued that his due process rights were violated, and the separation of powers doctrine was violated.
According to court documents, the man was arrested by Kansas City, Kansas, police officers in July 2016, submitted to a breath test and was found to be above the limit.
An administrative hearing was set for the suspension of the license, but one of the police officers could not attend because he was in the hospital, court documents stated. The officer had notified an attorney of his inability to attend, but the message did not get to the right person before the hearing, according to documents. The matter was dismissed and then reinstated for a new hearing.
Today the appeals court wrote, “A properly served order to dismiss a Kansas Department of Revenue license suspension proceeding is a final order.”
The hearing officer, according to the court, had no authority on his own to reverse a decision dismissing a license suspension hearing once a final order had been entered.
The decision is online at http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/CtApp/2018/20180921/118696.pdf.