Fadelli Concrete Pumping, Inc. v. Appellate Department

Defendant Fadelli Concrete Pumping, Inc., was convicted in a court trial of violating Vehicle Code section 35551, which prohibits operating a vehicle over certain statutory weight limits without a permit. The municipal court imposed a fíne of $482. The People appealed, claiming that the applicable fine should have been in excess of $22,000, and that the municipal court had no discretion to assess a smaller fine. We hold that under the circumstances presented here, the People may not challenge the allegedly unauthorized sentence imposed by the municipal court in a misdemeanor case, either by appeal or by extraordinary writ. We therefore grant defendant’s motion to dismiss the appeal.

Factual and Procedural Background

On October 13, 1992, a California Highway Patrol officer stopped a five-axle concrete pumper truck owned by defendant within the city limits of San Jose, and asked the driver to show permits to operate the vehicle. The driver had a State of California permit to operate an overweight vehicle (up to 99,375 pounds), but had no overweight vehicle permit issued by the City of San Jose. At a public scale, the officer determined that the truck weighed 103.900…