487 A.2d 1121 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1984
The plaintiff has appealed from an order of the defendant, the commissioner of motor vehicles. The plaintiff operated an automobile repair shop in New Haven, doing business as John's Automotive Center (JAC). JAC was a repair licensee of the commissioner of motor vehicles.
The plaintiff alleges that JAC ceased operations in 1981. On or about April 2, 1982, the defendant served upon the plaintiff a "Notice of Hearing and Charges" which notified the plaintiff of a hearing to be held on May 20, 1982, upon allegations that the plaintiff's proprietorship violated provisions of the General Statutes.
The plaintiff appeared before the commissioner and at that time contested the commissioner's jurisdiction over the case. The commissioner reserved the question *227 pending submission of briefs. On July 22, 1982, the commissioner issued an order fining the plaintiff $500. The plaintiff has exhausted his administrative remedies.
The plaintiff has raised five grounds of error in his appeal but has briefed only two. Those issues not briefed are considered abandoned. Katsetos v. Nolan,
The notice of hearing received by the plaintiff stated "Facts Warranting Suspension or Revocation of License." The plaintiff argues in his second ground of appeal that this notice was procedurally defective in that it did not advise the plaintiff that he might also be fined if any of the charges set forth in the notice were substantiated at the hearing.
The Uniform Administrative Procedure Act; General Statutes §
The notice to the plaintiff stated §
Cases holding a notice procedurally defective under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act have generally done so on the grounds that the agency at the hearing took actions against the plaintiff on the basis of charges of which the plaintiff was not notified.Murphy v. Berlin Board of Education,
Returning now to the first question of the plaintiff's appeal, namely, that of jurisdiction, it is a position of the plaintiff that the commissioner lacked jurisdiction over the case, that is, did not have the power to impose the fine, on the ground that the plaintiff's license had expired prior to the commissioner's complaint against him.
General Statutes §
Prior to 1981, General Statutes §
The legislative history surrounding this 1981 amendment, however, implies that the amendment was intended only to provide an additional or alternative penalty for those licensees for whom suspension or revocation would also be possible. "This bill as it is being clarified and amended, merely makes available to the Commissioner . . . in those situations where previously we could only suspend or revoke a motor dealer's license for some sort of abuse, an additional penalty of a fine . . . and kind of giving them the choice of using either or, or both and as the appropriate circumstances are concerned. . . .
"When a motor vehicle dealer had been guilty of any of the offenses for which his license could be pulled or suspended in the past, the only option, other than not *230 enforcement, was to effectually put him out of business. That not only harmed the dealer, but often harmed his employees. And it was thought that additional flexibility would serve the purpose, both of enforcement and of really fitting the penalty to the abuse that was being corrected." 24 H.R. Proc., Pt. 7, 1981 Sess., p. 2268.
In addition, it is a familiar principle of statutory construction that courts may not read into clearly expressed legislation provisions which do not find expression in its words. Brunswick Corporation v.Liquor Control Commission,
Since the legislative history clearly reveals that the 1981 amendment was not intended to give the commissioner additional jurisdiction but simply to allow the commissioner to impose a fine in lieu of suspension, it follows that if the commissioner could not suspend, he cannot fine, and accordingly the findings of fact, conclusions of law and orders of the commissioner are set aside and the fine is vacated.
The appeal is sustained.