A West Vancouver real estate agent is among dozens of people who have filed lawsuits asking that their 90-day roadside driving bans be overturned following a recent court ruling that struck down parts of B.C.'s new drunk driving laws.
Justin De Genova filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court asking the courts to set aside a ban he was handed Nov. 12, on the grounds that it violates his charter rights.
De Genova is asking the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to lift the driving ban, plus the requirement to enroll in a remedial driving course and installation of an ignition interlock device, pending the outcome of the judicial review.
At the beginning of December, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jon Sigurdson ruled B.C.'s harshest administrative penalties for drunk drivers violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because they allow police to impose criminal-style penalties without giving drivers a chance to appeal.
Although drivers can apply to the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to review the decision, those cases have essentially been unwinnable. That robs drivers of a fair hearing, the court ruled.
Many people handed a 90-day suspension and other penalties that went along with it have been out of pocket up to $5,000 and some have lost their jobs because they couldn't drive.
Since the ruling, a number of people handed recent suspensions have requested their driving bans be overturned.
In his petition, De Genova argues that as a real estate agent with Sutton Group West Coast Realty and project manager with Focus Real Estate marketing, he needs his licence in order to work.
"I am required to drive to multiple properties located across the Lower Mainland in the course of a day. This would be impossible to do with public transit or a taxi," he wrote.
De Genova wrote that since being handed the licence suspension, his productivity has dropped off by about 90 per cent.
For now it's not clear what will happen to people who have recently been handed a suspension under the part of the law that's now been struck down.
Those who blow a fail on roadside screening devices from now on, however, will likely be taken back to the police detachment for a breathalyzer reading and be processed through the criminal court system - at least until the provincial government comes up with a way for drivers to appeal their suspensions.
