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How to Save Your License After a DUI Arrest in Washington State

Written by: Jon Scott Fox

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Posted over 2 years ago. Applies to Washington, 1 helpful vote, 0 comments

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Make a timely request for a DOL hearing

As part of a Washington state dui arrest, the arresting officer should have given you a form (linked below) to be used to request a hearing at the DOL. If you received this form from the officer, it must be mailed to the DOL in compliance with all the instructions on the form within 20 days of the arrest. This entitles you to a DOL hearing at which you can make arguments to save your license.

Conducting the DOL hearing

The DOL limits the hearing to the legal/factual issues listed on the hearing request form. Usually, the hearing is by phone and the arresting officer's report constitutes the testimony of the arresting officer. It is possible to subpoena the arresting officer to testify, but whether to do so depends entirely upon the nature of the defense to be presented at the hearing. One thing is for sure: It will make no difference to the DOL hearing examiner that loss of license will cause a hardship, or that you have no prior DUI arrests. The issues are listed in RCW 46.20.308, linked below.

Can I conduct the hearing myself?

Legally, you can represent yourself at the hearing but since this is a very specialized area of law, your chances of winning are not good if you don't have experience with this type of litigation. The best advice here is to retain an attorney who has proven experience in this field.