Keeping Your License

Most DUI cases also involve a case before the Department of Licensing.

In cases that involve a BAC test of .08 or higher or a refusal of the BAC test, your personal driver’s license is in jeopardy for 90 days, one year or two years.

If you have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), you can lose your CDL for either one year (first administrative hearing loss before DOL resulting from a DUI) or life (second administrative hearing loss before DOL resulting from a DUI) even if you were driving your personal vehicle at the time you were arrested for DUI.

The DOL case is a civil case. The department cannot fine you or put you in jail. The department can “only” affect your driving privilege. We put the word “only” in quotes, because for many of our clients, losing their license is as bad or worse than going to jail. At least 50 percent of defendants in DUI cases list the driving sanction as their greatest concern.

Whether you are a cab driver, commercial truck driver, real estate agent, outside sales person or just someone who doesn’t live on a public transportation route, we realize losing your driving privileges for even 90 days could adversely affect your life, personally and professionally.

The other problem with losing your license is that as a condition of getting it back, you will have to maintain high risk insurance (SR22) for three years from the date you are eligible to get your regular license back.

For those reasons, the DOL case should not be taken lightly. Yet many attorneys treat the DOL case as a throwaway case. But it does not have to be that way; these DOL cases can be won, but only if you have the know-how and put as much effort into winning them as the court case.

We fight aggressively to win our clients’ DOL cases. Give us a call today to discuss your case.