Thousands of New York DWI repeat offenders have had their driver’s licenses revoked for life.
Ten years ago, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) enacted new “emergency” regulations to identify repeat DWI offenders and to subject such drivers to longer -- and sometimes permanent – license revocations.
Under these regulations, when a person’s driver’s license is currently revoked for any reason, and has three or four alcohol or drug-related convictions or incidents on his or her record within 25 years, in any combination, as well as one or more “serious driving offense(s)” - a fatal accident, a driving-related Penal Law conviction, a conviction of two or more violations for which five or more points are assessed on the motorist’s driving record, or a total of 20 or more points on the motorist’s license for any combination of violations - the DMV Commissioner is required to deny the person’s application for a driver’s license, presumptively, for the rest of the person’s lifetime.
Since these regulations went into effect, countless motorists across the state have pled guilty to, or otherwise been convicted of, alcohol-related driving offenses completely unaware that because of their convictions, the DMV would “look back” at their entire driving records and ban re-licensure permanently, a consequence which invariably has a dramatically negative impact on the quality of our clients’ lives. Our highly experienced lawyers in our DWI, appellate, and post-conviction practices, using our client-centered style of advocacy, fight tirelessly to help our clients, many of whom have been turned away by other firms, become re-licensed.
Through our collaborative efforts and creative litigation, we have successfully vacated prior DWI convictions for multiple clients, under section 440.10 of the Criminal Procedure Law, causing them to no longer qualify for lifetime revocation.
We have also overturned multiple adverse licensing determinations by the DMV through litigation under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, and we are currently fighting the license revocations of multiple clients in the Appellate Division and in the courts throughout New York State.
