Yes. If the DMV hearing officer sustains your suspension or revocation, California law lets you file a petition for review in the superior court of your county of residence within 30 days. Filing does not by itself pause the suspension, and the court’s review is limited to the hearing record.

The 30-day deadline and where to file

You may file a petition for review within 30 days of the issuance of DMV’s notice of determination sustaining the suspension or revocation after your hearing (Vehicle Code section 13559(a)). People often call this an appeal; the statute calls it a petition for review. It goes to the court in the county where you live, not wherever the arrest happened. The decision notice must include a statement of your right to a review (Vehicle Code section 14105(a)), and when DMV sustains the order, the notice must say that you have a right to review by the court under Section 13559 (Vehicle Code section 13558(f)).

Filing does not stop the suspension

When the hearing officer sustains the order, any temporary permit is revoked and the suspension or revocation takes effect five days after notice is given (section 13558(f)). Filing a petition for judicial review does not, by itself, stay that order (section 13559(a)), so plan on the suspension staying in effect while the court case is pending.

What the court actually looks at

This is not a new hearing. The court reviews the record of the DMV hearing and may not consider other evidence (section 13559(a)). It may order DMV to rescind the suspension or revocation and return or reissue your license if it finds that DMV exceeded its constitutional or statutory authority, made an erroneous interpretation of the law, acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, or made a determination not supported by the evidence in the record. Disagreeing with the outcome is not, by itself, one of these grounds. The petition has to show that the decision fails under at least one of them.

DMV’s own departmental review

DMV also has an internal review. You may request a review of the hearing decision within 15 days of the decision’s effective date; it examines the hearing report, documentary evidence, and findings, and the officer who conducted your hearing may not take part (Vehicle Code section 14105.5). For a hearing that followed a suspension under section 13353 or 13353.2, a request for this review does not stay the suspension. It runs on its own deadline, separate from the 30 days for the court petition.

What a court ruling does not do

A finding by the court on this petition has no collateral estoppel effect on a later criminal prosecution and does not prevent the same facts from being litigated there (section 13559(b)).

The court petition is also different from the renewed administrative hearing that can be available when DUI charges are never filed for lack of evidence or are dismissed for insufficient evidence. That is a separate remedy: a new request to DMV itself, with its own deadline and conditions.

Before the 30 days run out

  • Find the issuance date on your notice of determination. The 30 days run from that notice, not from your arrest or hearing date.
  • Get the hearing record reviewed for one of the four problems the statute allows a court to act on.
  • Do not wait to see how the criminal case turns out; the 30-day period does not wait for it.

Losing a DMV hearing is not automatically the end of the process, but the court’s role is narrow and the deadline is short. If you lost your hearing and want the decision reviewed, or need help with license reinstatement in the meantime, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can walk through the options with you: (800) 755-5174.