California DMV vs California Court DUI Classes?

4 years ago i received a DUI, and instead of being told to go to dui classes by the judge, he suspended my license for 6 months. Now, 4 years later DMV says my license is suspended because i didn't complete "their" DUI classes... although they never contacted me and I actually called the DMV headquarters right after the DUI and they said I was good to go... anyone have any suggestions?

I sincerely understand your pain. I had a very similar problem in CA, with my DUI the said my licence was suspended for 6 months and I was good. But the DUI said a DUI from FL 7 years prior to that meant I had to complete an 18 month program- "their" program. I fought it, took it to the board/panel at the DMV and they said tough luck. In CA the courts and the DMV are independant and the DMV can punish you and withold your licence under whatever pretenses they want in this case.

SUCKS!!!! Sorry!

The DMV is completely separate from the courts. Do you have proof that you completed the class? If you did, they should have given you some type of certificate of completion. If they didn't give you something like that, chances are, it was never completed.

While I am not an attorney and can't give advice, it appears that the DMV and courts have different aspects of the case. The DMV automatically suspends the license, where the court requires you to be Tried.

I would contact a local DUI attorney for assistance if your license is really important to you. If you had an attorney in the original DUI hearing, I would contact them and see if they have any official recording that you were not required to go to the DUI classes.

I would think that you would have been required to go to the class AND get the license suspension.

They do not communicate with each other. The DMV is a heartless and cruel agency run by people who have no clue or could care less about how difficult it is for someone to resolve problems once they take your license away for ANY reason. The laws and their policies make it very difficult to dig yourself out of a hole and before you know it, you've lost your car after spending your life savings paying everyone's constant fee's and fines. Is it no wonder why people hate the DMV?

Hope things work out for you.