Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles v. Auster

Petitioner, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV), seeks second-tier certiorari review of a decision of the circuit court sitting in its appellate capacity pursuant to section 322.2615(13), Florida Statutes (2008). The circuit court granted Respondent Michelle Auster’s petition for writ of certiorari and quashed an order of the DHSMV hearing officer which had upheld the suspension of Auster’s driver’s license for refusal to submit to a breath test. In doing so, the circuit court determined that the hearing officer had departed from the essential requirements of law and had…