Furman

The superior court issued a writ of mandate directing appellant Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV) to set aside its suspension of respondent John Paul Furman’s driving privilege and reinstate Furman’s driving privilege. The court found that the forensic alcohol analysis submitted by the DMV in support of the suspension was not sufficient competent evidence to support the suspension because it would not have been admissible over a hearsay objection in a civil action. The DMV appeals, claiming that the analysis would have qualified for admission in a civil action under Evidence Code section 1280’s exception to the hearsay rule in conjunction with Evidence Code section 664’s presumption that official duty has been regularly performed. We conclude that the DMV, as the proponent of the document, failed to establish that it had been prepared by a person with an official duty. Therefore, the document was not sufficient competent evidence to support the suspension of Furman’s license as it could not have qualified for admission over a hearsay objection in a civil action. We affirm.

I. Background

Furman was detained by law enforcement at 1:20 a.m. on June 20, 2000, after he…