M E M O R A N D U M

TO:         All Supreme Court Trial Coordinators

FROM:   The Honourable Associate Chief Justice Dohm

DATE:     June 28, 2000

RE:          Appeals/Judicial reviews pursuant to
               s. 94.1 Motor Vehicle Act (90 day roadside suspensions)

Section 94.1 of the Motor Vehicle Act authorizes a peace officer who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle has alcohol in his blood stream exceeding 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, or that a driver has refused to comply with a demand to supply a sample of his or her breath or blood, to seize an individual’s driver’s license. On seizure of the license, the peace officer has to serve a notice of driving prohibition, which acts as a temporary driver’s license for a period of 21 days from the date of service. A driver served with notice of a driving prohibition may, pursuant to s. 94.4 "within seven days of being served with a notice of driving prohibition", apply to the Superintendent [of Motor Vehicles] for a review of the driving prohibition. If the Superintendent upholds the prohibition, the driver may apply to the Court for a review of the Superintendent’s decision.

Effective July 1, 2000, these applications for review by the Court should be treated as civil applications pursuant to the Judicial Review Procedure Act and must now be brought as originating applications by petition to the Court. The petitioner must therefore pay the applicable filing fees in the Civil Supreme Court Registry.