Opinion
March 20, 1968.
June 13, 1968.
Motor Vehicles — Operator's license — Suspension — Violation listed under § 619.1 of The Vehicle Code — Suspension by secretary mandatory, not discretionary — Hardship of licensee and extenuating circumstances — Right of licensee to appeal — Limited scope of appeal — Payment of fine and costs for violation as admission of conviction — The Vehicle Code.
1. Virnelson Motor Vehicle Operator License Case, 212 Pa. Super. 359, Held controlling.
2. A driver whose operator's license is suspended under § 619.1 of The Vehicle Code has a right of appeal to the court of common pleas, but the appeal is limited to determining whether the driver was convicted and whether the Secretary of Revenue properly computed points and applied the mandatory provisions of § 619.1.
3. Where the licensee admits that he paid a fine and costs for a violation of the motor vehicle laws, this constitutes an admission of conviction.
4. In this case, it was Held that the court below was without power to reverse the suspension on the basis that the licensee had suffered sufficient punishment when he paid the fine and costs and attended a driver improvement school, and that the licensee, a physician, and his patients would suffer hardship if his license were suspended.
Before WRIGHT, P.J., WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, JACOBS, HOFFMAN, SPAULDING, and HANNUM, JJ.
Appeal, No. 1138, Oct. T., 1967, from order of Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, No. 67-7940, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Vincent Wall. Order reversed.
Appeal by licensee from decision of Secretary of Revenue suspending motor vehicle operating privilege. Before HONEYMAN, J.
Order entered reversing order of secretary. Commonwealth appealed.
Elmer T. Bolla, Deputy Attorney General, with him William C. Sennett, Attorney General, for Commonwealth, appellant. Andrew B. Cantor, with him Peter J. Cianci, for appellee.
Argued March 20, 1968.
This appellee was charged with driving his automobile on November 6, 1966 at a speed of 82 miles per hour on the Pennsylvania Turnpike where the speed limit was 65 miles per hour. He was charged with a violation of section 1002(b)(7) of The Vehicle Code, Act of April 29, 1959, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1002(b)(7), and paid the fine and costs to the justice of the peace. His speed having exceeded the speed limit by 17 miles per hour the Secretary of Revenue assigned six points to his record and suspended his operator's license for 15 days under section 619.1(b) of The Vehicle Code, Act of April 29, 1959, P.L. 58, as amended, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 619.1. Upon appeal the lower court heard the case de novo and reversed the Secretary of Revenue. The court below based its reversal on its opinion that the appellee had suffered sufficient punishment when he paid the fine and costs and attended driver improvement school and that the appellee who was a physician and his patients would suffer hardship if his license were suspended.
This case is controlled by our decision in Virnelson Motor Vehicle Operator License Case, 212 Pa. Super. 359, 243 A.2d 464 (1968). In Virnelson we held that a driver whose operator's license is suspended under section 619.1 of The Vehicle Code has a right of appeal to the court of common pleas, but that the appeal is limited to determining whether the driver was convicted and whether the secretary properly computed points and applied the mandatory provisions of section 619.1.
In this case only one violation was involved and appellee paid the fine and costs for that violation. Such action constitutes an admission of conviction and it would be useless to remand the case to determine an admitted fact. Commonwealth v. Halteman, 192 Pa. Super. 379, 162 A.2d 251 (1960).
In our opinion the court below had no power to reverse the suspension on the basis that the appellee had been sufficiently punished and that appellee and his patients would suffer hardship. This constituted an abuse of discretion. The order of the lower court is reversed and the order of the Secretary of Revenue is reinstated.