This packet contains the forms and instructions needed to appeal a driver’s license suspension from the Dept. of Licensing to Superior Court.

The instructions are for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. If you do not understand this information, contact an attorney.

When you ask for an administrative appeal, a court will review the decision made by an administrative agency. In this situation, the administrative agency is the Washington Department of Licensing, and the court is the Superior Court. The person who asks for the appeal is called the Appellant. The administrative agency is called the Respondent. 

For the Superior Court to take your case it needs a party in the case to: make a request for an appeal, send the administrative record of the case, send a transcript of what was said at the hearing, and tell the Superior Court what legal mistakes were made in the case, what the correct decision was supposed to be, and why.  

The Notice of Appeal is the document you use to ask the court to review your case. The administrative record and the Transcript of Proceedings are the documents you use to give the court the record of your case. The Appellant’s Brief is the document that you write to the court to explain what the law is in your case, what mistakes the administrative agency made about the law in your case, and what the correct decision should have been. 

A person who wants to start an appeal needs to: 

• Complete a Notice of Appeal
• File the Notice of Appeal and pay the filing fee with the Superior Court Clerk
• Serve the Notice of Appeal on the other party
• Have the person who served the Notice of Appeal complete a Certificate of Service
• File the Certificate of Service with the Superior Court Clerk
• Complete a Transcript of Proceedings
• File the Transcript of Proceedings with the Superior Court Clerk

Completion of these steps will start the appeal process. You will then need to write and submit your argument to the Superior Court using a document called a “brief.” The steps for briefing are: 

• Complete an Appellant’s Brief
• File the Appellant’s Brief with the Superior Court Clerk

Once these steps are complete, the other party may respond to your appeal with a document called a Respondent’s Brief and you will then have the option to write and file a Reply Brief to argue against the Respondent’s Brief.