Paterson

Vehicle Code section 13352, subdivision (5), provides that one who, within a period of five years, has suffered three convictions under Vehicle Code section 23152 (the so-called misdemeanor “drunk driving” statute), shall have his driver’s license suspended for three years.

Plaintiif Paterson, a medical doctor, was such a person. He had suffered drunk driving convictions on December 2, 1980, June 28, 1982 and August 24, 1983. Following his last such conviction the Motor Vehicle Department (Department) suspended his driver’s license, without previous notice or hearing, for three years. Following a futile demand for a formal Department hearing on such suspension plaintiff sought, by application in the superior court for a writ of mandate, to set aside the driver’s license suspension.

Judgment was thereafter entered denying the writ application, from which judgment plaintiff has appealed.

The appellate contentions are that the revocation of plaintiff’s license, without opportunity for a hearing, (1) violates “due process,” (2) “consti tutes an [unlawful] irrebuttable presumption in light of significantly changed circumstances in appellant’s mental and physical health” and…