Petitioners made application to this Court for an original writ of mandamus and injunction directed against the respondents, the Superintendent of the State Motor Vehiclе Division and the Director of the Financial Responsibility Section. Oral arguments on the matter were held and, after due consideration, this Court granted the alternative writ of mandamus. It was further ordered that both parties would have time in which to file additional memo-randa with the Court.
Petitioner Shirley June Burri is the holder of an Arizona driver’s license and peti *542 tioner Ethlyn G. Burri, her mother, is the owner of an automobile registered and licensed in Arizona. On February 1, 1967, Shirley June Burri was driving her mother’s automobile in Tucson, at which time she was involved in an accident with another automobile. Both vehicles were damaged as a result of the collision. It later developed that neither the daughter nor her mother had liability insurance.
Respondents gave notice to Shirley June Burri that her driver’s license would be suspended, and to Ethlyn G. Burri that the registration certificate and the license plates of the automobile would be suspended unless a financial responsibility bond of $172 was posted, together with proof of future insurance. The notice also stated that a bond would not have to be posted if evidence of release or other compromise can be secured and filed with the respondents. Petitioners then engaged the services of an attorney who wrote to respondents requesting an administrative hearing for the petitioners, with the further request that the hearing be held in Tucson, Arizona, the residence of the petitioners.
On April' 4, 1967, a hearing date was set for April 14, 1967 at 2 p. m. in the office of the Superintendent, Motor Vehicle Division, Financial Responsibility Section in Phoenix, Arizona. The respondents were served the petition and order to show cause on April 7, 1967. Since we granted the alternative writ of mandamus on May 9, 1967, the Stаte has maintained “status quo ante,” and the petitioners have continued their driving and operating rights.
It is petitioners’ contention that it is arbitrary, unreasonable and caрricious, and thus violative of due process of law for respondents to require the holding of administrative hearings under A.R.S. § 28-1122, subsec. A only in Phoenix, Arizona. The statute reads:
“A. The supеrintendent shall administer and enforce the provisions of this ■ chapter and may make rules and regulations necessary for its administration and shall provide for-hearings upоn request of persons aggrieved by orders or acts of the superintendent under the provisions of article 3 of this chapter.”
Pursuant to this authority, the Superintendent issued Genеral Order No. 68, last amended in 1964. Included in the rules and regulations governing hearings were the following provisions:
“2. All hearings requested shall be held in the office of the Superintendent, Mоtor Vehicle Division, Financial Responsibility Section, Phoenix, Arizona.
“3. Persons requesting hearings after the 5th day of issue o'f the NOTICE shall be granted 5 days in which to have the hearing. This pеriod may or may not extend beyond the effective date of suspension..
“4. When the date and time for hearings have been established there shall be no appeal for a new hearing date.”
To support their contention that it is arbitrary, unreasonable and capricious to require that all hearings be held .in Phoenix, petitioners argue that in their case it would be more convenient and less costly if the hearing were held in Tucson. They cite as authority in support of their position the case of Nаtional Labor Relations Board v. Prettyman,
*543
It is a settled principle of law that official acts of public officers are presumed to be correct and legal, in the аbsence of clear and convincing evidence' to the contrary. United States ex rel. Harris v. Ragen,
The adequacy of the hearing must be determined by the purpose for which it is given and be judged by that standard. Norwegian Nitrogen Prod. Co. v. United States,
“The statute’s requirement of security is based, not upon the establishment of negligence, but upon the standard that, in ■ the oрinion of the administrative official, a judgment may be recovered, against the motorist. Thus, the superintendent need not decide on the basis of conflicting evidence whether á motorist was in fact, culpable, but must determine' if there is any reasonable possibility that a judgment will be recovered against him' and the amount thereof. Whether there is such а reasonable possibility is a finding that must be made by the superintendent only after an administrative hearing, if requested. Furthermore, this finding is subject to judicial review under A.R.S. § 28-1122, subd.B.
“The failure , of the statute to provide for a full-scale hearing on the issue of culpability does not violate the due process and equal protection clauses of either thе State or Federal Constitutions. * * ” (Italics theirs)
Depositions and affidavits are often used in administrative hearings. See State of Missouri ex rel. Hurwitz v. North,
It is not difficult to conceive of a situation whereby it could be a viоlation of procedural due process to require that a financial responsibility hearing be held in Phoenix. We are not convinced, however, that that situation is nоw before us. It is clear that petitioners have failed to show that the superintendent acted without his power or that he acted unreasonably, capriciously or arbitrarily in setting the hearing in Phoenix, Arizona. The fact that the legislature chose to leave the setting of the time and place of the hearing to the discretion of the superintendent precludes us from considering anything but the instant . case. Under the present state of facts, if a comprehensive scheme is to be set up *544 to provide for hearings in other locations, the responsibility to do so rests with the legislature and not with this Court.
We reject petitioners’ contention that there exists a basic right to receive notice of the mere right to an administrative hearing. There exists only the right to receive notice of the time and place of the hearing once it has been requested. Bennett v. Arizona State Board of Public Welfare,
The alternative writ granted on the 9th day of May, 1967 is quashed and the respondents may proceed with the hearing before the Director of the Financial Responsibility Section of the Motor Vehicle Division of the State of Arizona.