[¶1] Aрpellant, Dale B. Leavitt, sought a declaratory judgment that the Wyoming Constitution prohibits a law enforcement officer from using the “deemed consent” provision of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i) to perform a warrantless chemical test incident to the lаwful arrest of a motorist. The district court dismissed his action for lack of a justi-ciable controversy. Mr. Leavitt claims that he has presented a justiciable controversy because the declaration he sought would ex-elude
ISSUE
[¶2] Mr. Leavitt frames the issue as a constitutional question, reworded as: whether articlе 1, section 4 of the Wyoming Constitution precludes a law enforcement officer from relying on Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i) to obtain a driver’s breath sample without a warrant. However, because we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Mr. Leavitt’s claim for want of justiсiability, the underlying constitutional question is not properly before this Court and we decline to consider it. We discern from Mr. Leavitt’s brief the threshold issue, also presented by the State, wMeh we state as: Did Mr. Leavitt’s request for a declaration that a law enforcement officer may not rely on Wyo. Stat. Ann. .§ 31-6-102(a)(i) to “deem” a driver’s consent to chemical testing present a justiciable claim?
FACTS
[¶3] When Officer Aitken of the Jackson Police Department stopped Mr. Leavitt for speеding and crossing over the center yellow line, he smelled alcohol on Mr. Leavitt’s breath and asked Mm to perform field sobriety tests, wMeh Mr. Leavitt failed. As a result, Officer Aitken arrested Mr. Leavitt for driving while under the influence (DWUI) pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-5-233. He then read Mr. Leavitt the implied consent advisements set out in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(ii) and asked Mr. Leavitt if he would consent to a breath test to measure Ms BAC. Mr. Leavitt agreed to take the test and provided a breath sample which indicated Ms BAC to be 0.17%, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-5-233(b).
[¶4] The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) therefore suspended Mr. Leavitt’s driver’s license for mnety days pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(e).
[¶5] Mr. Leavitt appealed the OAH decision to the Tetоn County District Court.
The OAH concluded that the certified record and audio and video recording of the Plaintiffs detention and DUI arrest also established that Officer Aitken provided the Plaintiff with proper implied consent advisements and determined the record suрported a finding that the Plaintiff agreed to provide breath samples after the implied consent advise-ments.
(Emphasis added.) Relying on the OAH’s finding that Mr. Leavitt agreed to provide the breath sample, the district court concluded that the Requеst did not present a justiciable controversy and granted WYDOT’s motion to dismiss the action. Mr. Leavitt now appeals the district court’s dismissal.
DISCUSSION
[¶6] We review the threshold question of jurisdiction de novo. Sandoval v. State
[¶7] To maintain a declaratory judgment action, the challenger must present a justiciable controversy. The Tavern, LLC v. Town of Alpine,
1. The parties have existing and genuine, as distinguished from theoretical, rights or interests.
2. The controversy must be one upon which the judgment of the court may effectively operate, as distinguished from a debate or argument evoking a purely political, administrative, philosophical or academic conclusion. '
3. It must be a controversy the judicial determination of which will have the force and effect of a final judgment in law or decree in equity upon the rights, status or other legal relationships of one or more of the real parties in interest, or, wanting these qualities to be of such great and overriding public moment as to constitute the legal equivalent of all of them.
4.The proceedings must be genuinely adversary in character and not a mere disputation, but advanced with sufficient militancy to engender a thorough research and analysis of the major issues.
William F. West Ranch,
[¶8] Our analysis begins and ends with the first two Brimmer elements, which require a plaintiff to аllege that he has “a tangible interest which has been harmed and that a judicial decision in their favor will effectively remedy the harm.” William F. West Ranch,
[¶9] To satisfy the second Brimmer element, however, a favorable judgment must remedy Mr. Leavitt’s harm. The judgment that Mr. Leavitt' seeks is a declaration that the Wyoming Constitution bars an officer from using Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i) to “deem” a driver’s consent to warrantless breath testing. Such a declaration would have no effect upon the suspension of Mr. Leav-itt’s driver’s license.
[¶10] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i) (LexisNexis 2017) states in pertinent part:
(i) Any person who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a public street or highway in this state is dеemed to have given consent, subject to the provisions of this act, to a chemical test or tests of his blood, breath or urine forthe purpose of determining the alcohol concentration or controlled substance cоntent of his blood. The test or tests shall be:
(A) Incidental to, a lawful arrest;
(B) Given as promptly as possible after the arrest;
(C) Administered at the direction of a peace officer who has probable cause to believe the person was driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon, a public street or highway in this state in violation of W.S. 31-5-233(b) or any other law prohibiting driving under the influence as defined by W.S. 31-5-288(a)(v).
(Emphasis added.) Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(ii) sets forth the advisements that a law . enforcement officer must'give to an ar-restee before a chеmical test is performed. If, after being so advised, an arrestee refuses chemical testing as provided in subsection (a),
[no test] shall be given except in cases where serious bodily injury Or death has resulted or upon issuance of a search warrant. A test of the agency’s choice may be administered upon issuance of a warrant, including a remotely communicated search warrant, when reasonable under the circumstances and as provided in this subsection.
Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(d) (LexisNexis 2017). Finally, subsection (e) requires WY-DOT to suspend the arrestee’s driver’s license for ninety days if the chemical test indicates a BAC of 0.08% or higher. Wyo. Stat. .Ann. § 31-6-102(e).
[¶11] Declaring that an officer may not rely on the “deemed- consent” provision of Wyo. Stat, Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i) would exclude from evidence breath samples procured by deemed consent. However, the record incontrovertibly shows that Officer Aitken did not deem Mr, Leavitt’s consent to breath testing. The OAH reviewed the certified record аnd audio and video recording of Mr, Leavitt’s detention and arrest and found that Officer Aitken read to Mr. Leavitt the ad-visements of subsection (a)(ii), asked him to submit to a breath test, and Mr. Leavitt “agreed” to take the test. Additionally, “Measurement of BAC basеd on a breath test requires the cooperation of the person being -tested.” Birchfield v. North Dakota, — U.S. -,
[¶12] Mr. Leavitt does not dispute that Officer Aitken read him the implied consent advisements and requested him to take the breath test. Instead, he contends that his subsequent consent was not given voluntarily. However, “deemed” consent is not given — it is presumed by the recipient. It requires no act by the consenter and, therefore, it can be neither voluntary nor coerced, Thus, even if Mr. Leavitt’s consent was given involuntarily, it still would not be “deemed.”
[¶18] In sum,-Mr. Leavitt’s consent wаs not deemed and, therefore, a declaration concerning the “deemed consent”. provision of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a)(i). would have no effect on the admissibility of the, breath sample that sustains the suspension of his driver’s license. Thus, the second element of the Brimmer test is unmet and we need not consider the remaining elements to conclude that Mr. Leavitt has not presented a justicia-ble controversy.
[¶14] Affirmed.
Notes
. Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(e) (LexisNexis 2017) states in part:
If the test result indicates the person has an alcohol concentration of eight onе-hundredths of one percent (0.08%) or more, the peace officer shall submit his signed statement to the department. Based upon the statement the department shall suspend the person’s Wyoming driver’s license or his privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state for ninety (90) days.
. The district court eventually affirmed the OAH decision to suspend Mr. Leavitt’s driver's license for ninety days on the basis that it was a lawful stop and arrest.
. Mr. Leavitt argues that his conviction for DWUI under Wyo, Stat. Ann. § 31-5-233(b)(iii), which was obtained by the same breath sample, constitutes an additional interest in this matter. We note, however, that the Request did not refer to the criminal proceeding. Thus, we consider the suspension to be Mr. Leavitt's only interest in this case.
. Mr. Leavitt alsо seems to suggest that his claim concerns a .matter of great public importance, thus allowing us to relax our justiciability requirements. Brimmer,
