Opinion
June 12, 1981.
Motor vehicles — Suspension of motor vehicle operator's license — Collateral attack on conviction.
1. A conviction of a traffic offense cannot be collaterally attacked in a civil license suspension proceeding arising out of such conviction. [38]
Submitted on briefs, May 8, 1981, to President Judge CRUMLISH and Judges ROGERS and WILLIAMS, JR., sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1758 C.D. 1979, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County in case of In Re: Suspension of Motor Vehicle Operator's License of John S. Mihalick, No. 1979-2724.
Motor vehicle operator's license suspended by Secretary of Transportation. Licensee appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County. Appeal sustained. CREANY, J. Commonwealth appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed. Suspension reinstated.
Harold H. Cramer, Assistant Attorney General, with him Ward T. Williams, Chief Counsel of Transportation, and Harvey Bartle, III, Acting Attorney General, for appellant.
No appearance for appellee.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety, appeals a Berks County Common Pleas Court order which sustained the appeal of John S. Mihalick from the thirty-day suspension of his driving privileges. We reverse.
On February 20, 1979, Mihalick was convicted of passing a stopped school bus in violation of Section 3345 of the Vehicle Code. Upon receipt of the certification of conviction, the Department notified Mihalick that his privileges were suspended for thirty days as mandated by Section 1535 of the Vehicle Code.
The lower court sustained Mihalick's appeal on the strength of his assertion that, due to his advanced age and medical condition, he failed to observe the bus's flashing lights.
In Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Seiscio, 56 Pa. Commw. 45, 424 A.2d 566 (1981), we held that an underlying criminal conviction may not be collaterally attacked in a subsequent suspension appeal which is civil in nature.
In Seiscio, we held that the trial court erred when it sustained an appeal for a violation of Section 3345 (then Section 1018) on the strength that the appellant below was unrepresented by counsel.
Reversed.
ORDER
The Berks County Common Pleas Court order dated July 30, 1979, at No. 2724, 1979, is reversed; and the suspension of the motor vehicle operating privileges of John S. Mihalick is reinstated.Date: June 12, 1981