CDL DUI

A DUI arrest or charge in Boulder County puts a commercial driver’s livelihood on the line and not just the driving record, because CDL holders are held to stricter rules than other drivers and the commercial privilege can be lost even when the case had nothing to do with a truck.

The Moorhead Law Group defends commercial drivers facing DUI charges in Boulder County. David Moorhead has practiced criminal defense in Boulder for over thirty-five years, and the firm takes criminal cases exclusively. Call 303-447-1400 for a free consultation.

A Criminal Case and a Separate DMV Case Against Your License

A CDL DUI in Boulder County produces a criminal case in county court and a separate express consent action at the DMV against your driver’s license. Nothing on the DMV side waits for the criminal case, and the DMV result does not depend on how the criminal case ends, so a dismissed charge can still leave you disqualified from driving commercially.

Your deadline to fight the DMV action starts on a different day depending on which test you took.

Breath Test or Refusal

The officer takes your license at the stop and hands you an Express Consent Affidavit and Notice of Revocation, which also works as a temporary permit good for seven days. You have those same seven days to request a hearing in writing, and without a request inside that window the department’s determination becomes final and the revocation takes effect on the eighth day.

Blood Test

Blood results take weeks to come back, and when they do the DMV mails you a notice of revocation stating the deadline to request a hearing. If your blood was drawn at the hospital after a crash and you were never booked that day, you get the same mailed notice, and the deadline in it is measured from when you are served rather than from the day of the stop.

A timely request stays the revocation, gets you a temporary permit good through the hearing date, and gives you a forum to challenge the stop, the basis for testing, and the test itself before your license is gone. Colorado schedules the hearing within sixty days of your request.

Employer Reporting Deadlines After a CDL DUI

Federal rules put the reporting duty on you, not on your employer. Once you receive notice that your license is revoked or that you are disqualified from commercial driving, you have until the end of the next business day to tell your employer. After a conviction for a traffic offense in any vehicle, you have thirty days to notify your employer in writing.

Your employer carries its own exposure. No carrier is allowed to let you operate a commercial vehicle during any period when you are disqualified, so a company that learns of a disqualification will usually take you off the road immediately rather than risk a violation of its own.

Three things can reach an employer before the criminal case ever reaches a verdict:

• the revocation the DMV enters, which appears on the driving record a carrier pulls
• your own written report, on the deadlines above
• an out-of-service order, which you are required to report to your employer within twenty-four hours

The Moorhead Law Group requests the DMV hearing inside the seven-day window, which keeps the revocation off your record while the hearing is pending, and defends the hearing and the criminal case with your reporting deadlines in view, so you know which events trigger a report, when each one is due, and what your record will show when the carrier pulls it.

Commercial Rules That Apply Only to CDL Holders

The alcohol limit in a commercial vehicle is 0.04, half the 0.08 limit for other drivers, and Colorado’s revocation statute calls a reading at or above it excess BAC CDL. Federal rules also bar a driver with any detectable alcohol from operating a commercial vehicle, and an officer who detects any alcohol places the driver out of service for twenty-four hours.

Losing the DMV case for any of the three reasons, a 0.08 reading, an excess BAC CDL reading, or a refusal, takes your CDL no matter which vehicle you were driving.

Read more about how a Colorado DUI affects getting and keeping a commercial license here.

The Moorhead Law Group defends CDL holders against each of those revocations, whether it is an excess BAC CDL reading in a truck, a 0.08 reading in a personal car, or a refusal, and defends the DMV hearing with the same preparation as the criminal case.

Disqualification Periods and How Long They Last

Federal rules group DUI, DUI per se, DWAI, test refusal, leaving the scene of an accident, and a few others together as major offenses. Colorado applies the federal disqualification periods for all of them:

• One year for a first DUI conviction, whether you were driving a commercial vehicle or your own car
• Three years for a first conviction while hauling placarded hazardous materials
• Lifetime for a second major offense from a separate arrest, in any combination of offenses, in any vehicle

Colorado adds its own revocation for a refusal on top of the federal disqualification: one year for a first refusal, two years for a second, and three years for a third, with a three-year minimum when the refusal happened in a commercial vehicle carrying hazardous materials. Federal rules let a state reinstate a driver with a lifetime disqualification after ten years if the driver completes a state-approved rehabilitation program, and a second major offense after reinstatement makes the driver ineligible for good.

Nothing shortens a disqualification period once a conviction or revocation is entered, so our DUI attorneys defend the DMV hearing and the criminal charge with the goal of keeping either one off your record, and we check your driving history in every state that has licensed you before anything is negotiated, because a prior major offense means a second one carries a lifetime disqualification.

An Out-of-State CDL After a Colorado Arrest

A Colorado arrest affects your CDL no matter which state issued it. Colorado reports the conviction to your home state through the national commercial driver record system, and your home state imposes the disqualification. Defending the case here is what protects the license there.

Whether a Reduced Charge Protects Your CDL

A deferred judgment or a diversion program is not available to you as a CDL holder. Federal rules do not let a state use either one to keep a commercial driver’s traffic conviction off the national driver record, whether you were driving a truck or your own car.

A plea to a lesser charge is still available where the evidence supports one. What it will not do in Colorado is shield the commercial license from an alcohol case. A DWAI conviction counts as driving under the influence for commercial license sanctions, exactly as a DUI does. An administrative determination against you at the DMV counts the same way, which means the disqualification can happen even if the criminal charge is later dismissed.

For a commercial driver, the license case decides the career, and it can be decided months before the criminal case ends.

Refusal of a Test

A refusal carries a one-year disqualification of your commercial driving privilege on a first offense, the same as a conviction, and the same whether you refused in a truck or in your own car. Colorado adds a one-year revocation of your regular driving privilege alongside it.

A refusal case at the DMV is decided on a different set of questions than a breath test case. The hearing officer looks at whether the officer had probable cause to require a test, whether the advisement was given, and whether what you said and did amounted to a refusal under Colorado law. Colorado’s definition covers refusing to complete a test or to cooperate in completing one, so the dispute is not always about whether you said no.

Challenges Available at Your DMV Hearing

The Stop and the Arrest

Colorado law lets you challenge the officer’s reason for stopping you and the arrest that followed at the express consent hearing. If the evidence does not establish that the stop and the arrest were legally valid, you are not subject to revocation. The hearing officer rules on that question separately from anything a judge rules about the stop in the criminal case.

Requiring the Officer to Appear

You have the right to require the officer to appear. The department will issue a notice for the officer’s appearance if you ask for it when you request the hearing, and a subpoena can be served at least five days before the hearing date. An affidavit that nobody challenges becomes the entire record, and an officer answering questions under oath can be examined on:

• the reason for the stop
• what was observed at the roadside
• the advisement you were given
• how the test was administered

Whether you testify at the DMV is a decision we make with you with the criminal case in view, since anything said at the hearing is on the record and can be used at trial.

Reinstatement and the Limits of an Interlock License

Colorado can restore your personal driving before a revocation period ends through an interlock-restricted license. The statute bars the department from issuing any license under that provision that authorizes commercial driving. An interlock-restricted license covers only vehicles with a device installed, and no probationary, restricted, or hardship license permits commercial driving during a disqualification.

Getting your personal license back and getting back to work are two separate events. The second one waits for the disqualification period to run out.

Your Criminal Case in Boulder County

David Moorhead has defended criminal cases in Boulder for more than thirty-five years, and The Moorhead Law Group takes criminal cases exclusively. The criminal side of a CDL case gets built on the same questions any serious DUI defense asks: the reason for the stop, the roadside maneuvers and the conditions they were performed under, the maintenance and calibration records behind the breath instrument, the chain of custody on a blood draw, and whether the state can prove you were driving or in actual physical control.

One thing gets added for a commercial driver. An offer that reduces jail time or fines can still carry a disqualification that ends a driving career, so every proposed resolution gets measured against the federal disqualification rules before you decide anything.

Talk to a Boulder CDL DUI Lawyer

The seven-day window starts when you receive the notice of revocation. If you hold a CDL and you were arrested for DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI in Boulder County, call The Moorhead Law Group at 303-447-1400 or fill out our contact form to get started on your case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Drive at All While My Case Is Pending?

Your commercial driving depends on your employer as much as the DMV. Carriers set their own policies on drivers with a pending alcohol case, and a company can pull you off commercial work before any revocation or disqualification takes effect.

How Long Does a CDL DUI Case Take in Boulder?

The DMV side finishes first, with the hearing set within sixty days of your request and a written decision following it. The criminal case runs longer and depends on the charge, the evidence, and whether the case is tried. Cases resolved by agreement generally finish in a few months.

Does an Older Conviction Still Count Against My CDL?

Yes. For the major offenses on the federal list, each conviction arising from a separate arrest counts, in a commercial vehicle or a personal one, and there is no lookback window that erases an older one.

Do I Have to Tell a New Employer About the Arrest?

Federal rules require you to give a prospective employer a ten-year employment history when you apply to drive commercially, and the carrier will request your driving record as part of hiring. A revocation or disqualification appears on that record.

What if I Already Missed the Seven-Day Deadline?

Colorado will consider a late request if you submit a verified statement explaining why it was late, and the department will grant the hearing if you could not request one in time because you had no actual notice of the revocation or because of something like hospitalization. A late hearing does not come with a stay, so the revocation runs while you wait for it.

What Does It Cost to Hire a CDL DUI Lawyer?

Fees depend on the charge, whether the case is tried, and how much work the license side takes. The consultation at The Moorhead Law Group is free, and cost gets discussed there.