If you are arrested for OVI/DUI/DWI your driver’s license will likely be seized and placed under immediate suspension by the police officer. This suspension is called an Administrative License Suspension or “ALS” for short.
There are two ways for your license to be placed under an ALS. First, if you are validly arrested for OVI/DUI/DWI and refuse to submit to a breath, blood or urine test after being properly requested by the police officer, your driver’s license may potentially be suspended for a one year period if it is your first offense, and possibly for a greater length of time if you have prior OVI/DUI/DWI offenses.
You will also be placed under an ALS if you submit to a breath, blood or urine test and the result of that test is at or over the state legal limit, which is .08 for breath and whole blood, and .011 for urine. At first, the length of the suspension for taking – and “failing” – the test is shorter than if you were to refuse the test.
However, it is almost NEVER in your interest to submit to a breath, blood or urine test if you have had anything to drink or ingested any amount of drugs (prescribed or illegal) in the recent past.
Here is what the police don’t tell you. If you take a breath, blood or urine test, that evidence will likely be used against you and you stand a much higher chance of being found guilty of an OVI/DUI/DWI and will likely have your license suspended by the judge for the same time – or even a longer period of time- than had you never taken the test to begin with!
This is why the police want you to take the test so badly – so you will end up with an OVI/DUI/DWI conviction and have your license suspended for a considerable amount of time. Don’t fall for this game. Again, it is almost never in your interest to take a breath, blood or urine test.
You have two basic options. First, you have the right to appeal the suspension. If you successfully appeal the suspension, the suspension is terminated and you may have your full driving privileges immediately returned to you.
If you file an appeal of the ALS, the court is generally required to hold a hearing on the appeal within 5 days of your initial court appearance. An ALS appeal, however, can generally be filed anytime up to 30 days from the date of your arrest on the OVI/DUI/DWI charge.
The grounds upon which you can successfully challenge an Administrative License Suspension are limited, however, to certain grounds. The grounds for an appeal are:
Whether the officer even had “reasonable grounds” to arrest you for OVI/DUI/DWI;
Whether you were properly and accurately informed by the officer of the consequences of both submitting to and refusing a breath, blood or urine test;
Whether you in fact “refused” to take the test (this situation often arises where a person genuinely tries to blow into the breathalyzer but for whatever reason – usually a condition such as emphysema or chronic cough or smoking – is unable to produce enough air to register a result on the machine and is erroneously and unfairly marked down as a refusal); and
Whether the results of your test were in fact at or above the legal limit (if the result was actually below the legal limit or if the results of the test are presently unknown, then you should NOT be placed under an ALS).
In addition, the attorneys of Ross & Calaway L.L.C. have also successfully challenged and gotten ALS suspensions dismissed because of defects in the way in which the police officer filled out the ALS forms themselves, and because of misleading information told to clients by the police in order to get them to take a test.
The second option you have if you are placed under an ALS is to petition the court for limited or occupational driving privileges. This can be done in conjunction with or in lieu of filing an appeal of the ALS. Ross & Calaway L.L.C. is successful in not only appealing the ALS, but getting our clients back driving to work, school, and for medical and family needs as soon as possible after their arrest.
Under Ohio law, there is generally a short waiting period before a court may grant a limited driving permit. This is called the “hard time” of the ALS suspension. The length of the hard time without driving privileges varies depending on whether you either refused to take the breath, blood or urine test, or whether you took the test and tested at or over the legal limit.
If you refused the breath, blood or urine test, there is now a 45 day waiting period before you may be granted limited or occupational driving privileges. If you submit to a chemical test and test at or over the legal limit, then you must still wait at least 15 days before you may be granted limited driving privileges to work, school or otherwise.
Ross & Calaway L.L.C. will timely appeal your ALS and petition the court for limited or occupational driving privileges on your behalf as part of our representation in defending you against the OVI/DUI/DWI charge you are facing. We practice in Montgomery, Greene, Clark, Warren, Miami, Butler, Preble, Darke, Champaign and Clinton counties. We have represented clients in Fairborn, Xenia, Kettering, Springfield, Urbana, Troy, Dayton, Huber Heights (Area II Court), New Lebanon (Area I Court), Miamisburg, Lebanon, Federal and U.S. District Court, and many more courts.
Please contact us at (937) 640-5000 or online at rossandcalaway.com. to discuss your rights and options immediately. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day. We offer a free initial consultation. Please be advised each client’s case is different and the information conveyed may or may not apply to your individual situation. Please call us to discuss your case before relying on the information in this website.
Serving clients in the Dayton, Ohio, area and surrounding counties, including the cities of Dayton, Xenia, Kettering, Fairborn, Centerville, Beavercreek, Springfield, Troy, and Wilmington.
Montgomery County • Miami County • Greene County • Clark County • Warren County • Clinton County
