10.15.05
Ambushed by logic
Here’s a good one from the gotcha school of law, upheld by the OCA on September 8, 2005 in Amerato v. Registrar, Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.
You’re a car dealer. For this you need a licence.
The Registrar makes a statutory “proposal” to revoke your licence. You demand a hearing to oppose this. Before the hearing, your lawyers cut a deal. The deal sets out terms and conditions for you to abide by, but the Registrar wants it to have teeth. So the deal provides, “The Applicants agree and acknowledge that should they breach any of the terms and conditions set out herein, in whole or in part, the Registrar is directed to and shall carry out the proposal.”
This seems like a simple application of the dog bite rule: one freebie, but next time it’s straight to the pound.
So, the Registrar drops by one day, finds you in breach, says “ah-ha,” and revokes your licence. Not to worry, say your lawyers. The revocation is invalid. The deal you made “concluded and disposed of” the previous proposal. Therefore, there’s no proposal left for the Registrar to carry out.
You cannot bargain away your right to a hearing, and therefore you agreed to nothing. Presumably, all of the Registrar’s complaints, both initial and follow-up, are now res judicata, and life is good.
I love the law.