## Facts

- Georgia’s Motor Vehicle Safety Responsibility Act required suspension of an uninsured motorist’s driver’s license and vehicle registration after an accident unless the motorist posted security covering damages claimed in accident reports.
- The statute provided for an administrative hearing before suspension, but the hearing excluded any consideration of the motorist’s fault or civil liability for the accident.
- Paul J. Bell, Jr., an uninsured clergyman whose work depended on driving, was involved in an accident when a five-year-old bicyclist struck the side of his car.
- The child’s parents filed an accident report seeking $5,000 in damages.
- At the administrative hearing, Bell was not permitted to present evidence that he was not at fault and could not contest liability; the agency ordered suspension unless he posted security.
- A state trial court found Bell free from fault and ordered that his license not be suspended, but the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed, holding fault irrelevant; the state supreme court declined review.

## Issues

1. Whether the Due Process Clause permits a state to suspend an uninsured motorist’s license and registration under a financial-responsibility statute without a pre-suspension opportunity to contest fault or liability.
2. Whether, when a statutory scheme makes potential civil liability central to the suspension decision, due process requires a determination that there is a reasonable possibility of a judgment against the motorist before suspension.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed and remanded.
- A driver’s license and registration, once issued, are significant interests protected by procedural due process.
- Because Georgia’s suspension scheme substantially turned on the prospect of civil liability, a hearing that categorically excluded fault and liability was constitutionally inadequate.
- Before suspending, the State had to provide a procedure to determine whether there was a reasonable possibility that a judgment would be rendered against the driver from the accident.
- The Court did not require a full adjudication of liability before suspension, but required a meaningful pre-deprivation inquiry focused on likely liability.

## Legal Principles

- Once issued, a driver’s license may not be suspended or revoked without procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Absent emergency circumstances, due process generally requires notice and an opportunity to be heard appropriate to the nature of the case before termination of a protected interest.
- When a financial-responsibility suspension regime is tied to potential tort judgments, due process requires a pre-suspension determination of whether there is a reasonable possibility of liability; a hearing that omits that central question is not meaningful.

## Conclusion

Georgia could not suspend an uninsured motorist’s license and registration based solely on an accident report and claimed damages while refusing to consider fault or likely liability; due process required, at minimum, a pre-suspension procedure to assess whether there was a reasonable possibility of a civil judgment against the driver.


Bell v. Burson, 402 U.S. 535 (1971)