Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com
A northern Indiana man whose driving privileges were suspended for life in Noble County must petition the court in that county for specialized driving privileges, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
In April 2012, the Adams Superior Court suspended Daniel Reinhart’s driving privileges for 10 years for being a habitual traffic offender, followed by another 10-year suspension in 2015. Also in 2015, the Noble Superior Court suspended Reinhart’s driving privileges for life after he was convicted of Level 6 felony driving when his privileges were validly suspended.
Two years later, Reinhart petitioned the Adams Superior Court for specialized driving privileges related to all three of his suspensions, which the court granted. The state responded with a motion to correct error, arguing the Adams County court did not have jurisdiction to modify the Noble County court’s order.
The Adams Superior Court disagreed and denied the motion to correct error, but the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned that ruling Friday. Judge John Baker rejected the trial court’s argument that because Noble County was statutorily required to suspended Reinhart’s privileges for life, that sentencing order was transformed into an administrative order which the Adams County court had jurisdiction over.
Rather, Reinhart should have filed a petition in Noble County to receive specialized driving privileges in that county, Baker wrote in the four-page Friday opinion. Thus, the case of State of Indiana and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles v. Daniel Reinhart, 01A02-1709-MI-2049, was remanded with instruction to vacate the portion of the Adams County order relating to the Noble County suspension
