Registry of Motor Vehicle “RMV” Hearings

Under Massachusetts General Laws and the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) has the authority to suspend or revoke a learner’s permit or driver’s license or right to operate. Additionally, the RMV has the authority to suspend or revoke your registration to prevent you from operating the motor vehicle attached to a suspended registration. For many people, day to day living without the ability to drive a car can have a major negative impact on family, work, and social relationships.

Hearings are conducted by the RMV for the suspensions and revocations, and hearings are held with a RMV Hearings Officer at specific RMV Service Centers in Boston, the surrounding area and throughout Massachusetts. If you are faced with suspension or revocation of your license, learner’s permit, or right to operate and coinciding hearing, it is likely you will need a Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer to help advise you with your specific case to get your Massachusetts driver’s license back as soon as possible. The following types of suspensions and revocations can have a huge set back on your ability to lawfully operate a motor vehicle in Massachusetts:

• Immediate Threat: The Registrar can revoke your learner’s permit, driver’s license, vehicle registration or the right to operate if they subjectively determine that your operation of a vehicle poses an immediate threat to public safety. A police officer’s allegation that you pose an immediate threat as a driver is often used as a tactic by police to inappropriately manipulate the criminal justice system and have the licenses, learner’s permit, or right to operate suspended or revoked of any individual that they stop under their discretion. When licenses are suspended or revoked, the suspension of revocation happens immediately. You then have to request a hearing, but until the hearing takes place and a ruling is established, your license will remain revoked or suspended indefinitely. You will need a successful Massachusetts criminal defense attorney to defend your case and have your license, learner’s permit, or right to operate reinstated as soon as possible.
• Immediate Threat Medical: If you have a medical condition which impacts your ability to safely operate a motor vehicle and thus your operation of a motor vehicle poses an immediate threat to public safety, the Registrar can suspend your learner’s permit, driver’s license, vehicle registration, or right to operate immediately and indefinitely. However, this is something that a police officer will determine and not a trained medical doctor. This determination and decision by non-medical police officers is often unnecessary and drastic, and your medical condition may very well be under your control with a care of a doctor. A Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer will be needed to help prove that your medical condition is manageable and a suspension or revocation of your license, learner’s permit or right to operate is unnecessary.
• Complaint Medical: A person who has a medical condition that may impact their ability to drive a motor vehicle.
• Complaint of Improper Operation: If a driver operates a motor vehicle improperly, law enforcement may request the RMV’s assistance in removing that driver from the roadways. The negligence may not have been observed by a police officer or legitimate witness and the driver may not be the source of the improper operation. You lawyer can help build a case to prove that someone or something else caused an accident or hazardous situation.
• Complaint Fraud License: You use false information or documentation or were caught using a fake ID to get a driver’s license at a Massachusetts Registry. If you have used false information or documentation to obtain a driver’s license, a Boston criminal defense attorney will be needed to evaluate your individual circumstances and handle your case and also to avoid a criminal prosecution which, for non-citizens have a detrimental impact in triggering deportation proceedings.
• Complaint General: Miscellaneous police complaint.
• Complaint Regulatory: This is an action used by the RMV to notify a person of a scheduled hearing.

It is required of the RMV to send a suspension notice to the address of record. Some notices require that the you see a hearings officer who will review the complaint and then take the action most fitting for your case. An offense of license fraud will require you to resolve the matter with the RMC’s Enforcement Services Division. You will want to have an attorney present at that hearing to work out a non-criminal resolution. This is especially true for immigrants and non-citizens.

The RMV is a bureaucratic agency that is more complex than necessary. If you find yourself with a suspended or revoked license, learner’s permit or right to operate as a result of the situations listed above, you will need a Massachusetts criminal defense attorney to assist you in working through the bureaucratic maze. The Law Office of Patrick J. Murphy has successfully advised and guided clients through RMV hearings in Massachusetts for decades. Put Attorney Murphy’s skill and expertise to work for you. Contact the Law Office of Attorney Patrick J. Murphy today for a confidential and free assessment of your case by calling (617) 367-0450 or by filling out the contact form on our website.