Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Diamond

In Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing v. Diamond, 151 Pa. Commw. 351, 616 A.2d 1105, 1108 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1992), the Court explained that "DOT's records are not infallible. To blindly affirm a revocation where there is clear evidence that the motorist had been acquitted of the underlying offense would, in our view, elevate form over substance and work a manifest injustice." Id. at 1107. The Court therefore held that once DOT submits evidence of the conviction, there is a rebuttable presumption that the conviction exits; "absent clear and convincing evidence that the record is erroneous, this presumption becomes conclusive on the issue of the conviction." Id. at 1107-08. In Diamond, the licensee produced an acquittal of the offense; because the conviction was a nullity, the presumption was rebutted.