Motor Vehicle Admin. v. Lindsay

⁵⁵⁹ MURPHY, Chief Judge. Following Edward Lindsay’s conviction of driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated, the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) of the State Department of Transportation, after a hearing, suspended his driver’s license for 90 days. Lindsay appealed to the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, naming the MVA as the defendant. In his order and petition for appeal, Lindsay claimed that MVA’s refusal to grant him a restricted license for employment and alcohol counseling purposes was arbitrary and capricious.

The circuit court (Ruben, J.) found the MVA’s decision to be arbitrary and capricious and remanded the case to the agency with instructions to restrict the 90 day suspension to permit Lindsay “to drive for employment and/or alcohol or medical treatment purposes.” We granted MVA’s petition for certiorari to determine (1) whether Maryland Code (1984) § 12-305 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article permitted such a petition by MVA and (2) if it did, whether the circuit court erred in overruling the agency’s decision. I Section 12-305 provides that “[t]he Court of Appeals shall require by writ of certiorari that a decision be certified to it for review and determination in any case in which a circuit court has rendered a final judgment on appeal from the District Court or has rendered a final judgment on appeal from an administrative decision under the Maryland Vehicle Law if it appears to the Court of Appeals, upon petition of a party that: (1) Review is necessary to secure uniformity of decision, as where the same statute has been construed differently by two or more judges; or (2) There are other special circumstances rendering it desirable and in the public interest that the decision be reviewed.” (Emphasis added) ⁵⁶⁰ The, italicized language was added to § 12-305 by Chapter 364 of the Acts of 1985. Prior to the adoption of this amendment, judicial review of MVA decisions under the Maryland Vehicle Law was limited to the circuit court, unless an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals was specifically authorized. Code (1984 Repl.Vol), § 12-209(a) of the Transportation Article; Code (1984), § 10-216(a)(l) of the State Government Article.

The legislative history underlying the 1985 amendment to § 12-305, as reflected in the legislative committee files, discloses that by letter dated January 12, 1984, the Attorney General, on behalf of the MVA, sought the support of the Maryland Judicial Conference to permit MVA “to appeal Circuit Court rulings, deciding appeals from its decision to the Maryland Appellate Courts.” The letter stated that restrictions in the existing law “foreclosed the MVA from appealing those few significant cases which involve constitutional ánd statutory questions and conflicts between the circuits therein, which demand resolution by the Appellate Courts.” The Judicial Conference agreed to support MVA’s efforts “to provide for appeals from MVA administrative hearings.” Accordingly, it prepared the bill that was enacted as Chapter 364 of the Acts of 1985. In urging the bill’s passage, the MVA filed a written statement with the legislative committees stating that the bill “would permit a party to petition for a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals after a final judgment has been ordered by a Circuit Court on appeal from an administrative hearing under this Motor Vehicle Law.” The MVA statement pointed out that then existing law did not permit “a party” to petition for certiorari “in a motor vehicle case” and that consequently “no right of appeal exists beyond the Circuit Court level.” As a result, according to the MVA statement, there was no statewide uniformity in motor vehicle cases because decisions from different circuit courts “may be completely at odds because of lack of appellate review.” In its favorable report on the bill, the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee indicated that its intent was to require the Court of Appeals, upon petition by a party, ⁵⁶¹ “to issue a writ of certiorari for review of final judgments by circuit courts of appeals from administrative decisions under the Maryland Vehicle Law.” II In enacting the 1985 amendment to § 12-305, we think it manifest that the legislature intended that the MVA would be a party defendant in appeals taken to the circuit court by persons aggrieved by an agency decision under the Maryland Vehicle Law; and that, in such circumstances, the MVA would be a “party” authorized to petition for certiorari within the contemplation of the statute. While no statute specifically denominates MVA as a party in the circuit court in such cases, the 1985 amendment was obviously designed to permit the agency to file a petition for certiorari in order to accomplish the legislative purpose of affording the MVA appellate review by this Court of adverse or conflicting circuit court judgments. Our conclusion here thus involves no departure from the rule that an administrative agency performing a quasi-judicial function ordinarily must have statutory authority to appeal circuit court reversals of its decisions.

E.g., Consumer Protection v. Consumer’s Pub., 304 Md. 731, 742 , 501 A.2d 48 (1985); Maryland Board v. Armacost, 286 Md. 353, 354-55 , 407 A.2d 1148 (1979); Employment Sec. Adm. v. Smith, 282 Md. 267, 269 , 383 A.2d 1108 (1978); Md. Pharmacy Board v. Peco, 234 Md. 200, 203 , 198 A.2d 273 (1964). ⁵⁶² Ill Title 16 of the Transportation Article regulates the issuance, suspension, and revocation of