Three Year Delay In a License Suspension Hearing

In Tarka v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 756 A.2d 138 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2000), the trial court sustained the licensee's license suspension appeal and the Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (PennDOT) appealed to the Court. The Court vacated the trial court's order and remanded "for the Trial Court to re-examine its evidentiary rulings, reverse said rulings if deemed legally correct to do so, and to conduct additional hearings if appropriate." Id. at 140. Further proceedings, though contemplated, were not required as was the case in Terraciano v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 562 Pa. 60, 753 A.2d 233 (2000). Three years passed before the case was eventually docketed for a new hearing. In rejecting the licensee's subsequent claim that the three-year delay was attributable to PennDOT, this Court held: This Court's order of April 25, 1995, which vacated and remanded the matter to the Trial Court, returned the parties to the status quo ante. Therefore, Tarka, having initially appealed the Department's suspension of his license in the Trial Court, was again the Appellant and moving party, with the burden of moving his case forward. Id. at 141.