LaChance

Introduction

Misty Lynn LaChance pled guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), and the Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV) suspended her driver’s license for six months, pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13352, subdivision (a)(1). (All further statutory references are to the Vehicle Code, *782 unless otherwise specified.) This suspension was imposed concurrently with a one-year administrative per se (APS) suspension imposed by the DMV in connection with the same DUI incident.

LaChance requested that the DMV issue her a restricted driver’s license during the term of her suspension, pursuant to section 13352, subdivision (a)(3). The DMV denied the request because subdivision (a)(3) of section 13352 only applies to drivers who have been convicted of DUI on more than one occasion; although LaChance had been arrested for DUI once previously, she had never before been convicted of DUI.

The trial court granted LaChance’s petition for a peremptory writ of mandamus, ordering the DMV to issue LaChance a restricted driver’s license pursuant to section 13352, subdivision (a)(3). We reverse the judgment, because the unambiguous language of section 13352,…