What to do After an Unsuccessful IRS Appeal: An Explanation of Judicial Reviews

So, you fought against the Notice of Administrative Penalty (NAP) you received, and although you and your lawyer gave your best efforts, the Penalty was, ultimately, confirmed.  Unfortunately, this is the case on a lot of files.  However, the process has not ended and your means of fighting back have not been exhausted!  Our office is filing Judicial Reviews on a regular basis.  So, what is a Judicial Review?  Here is what you need to know:

A Judicial Review is a means of appealing the decision you received.  We are asking the court to set aside the decision that the adjudicators issued on your Notice of Administrative Penalty (NAP).  If you wish to start a Judicial Review, you have only 30 days after the date of the decision on your Immediate Roadside Sanction/NAP to get started.  There is also a possibility of applying for a licence reinstatement pending the decision of the Judicial Review.  As starting a Judicial Review is a whole separate process from your NAP appeal, you will need to speak with one of our lawyers to discuss fees.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, you need to understand that even if you are intending on starting, or have started, a Judicial Review, your NAP still stands.  This means, if you do not get license reinstatement pending the review but you want to begin driving again, you will need to sign up for the Ignition Interlock Program three months after your contravention.  Participation in the program will allow you to drive for the remaining 12 months of your suspension. Please be aware that participation in the Ignition Interlock program for a period of one year will be a condition for reinstatement of your full license.

Once we are retained, we get moving on the Judicial Review right away.  Like starting an appeal of the NAP, we have documents we need to file in a timely manner.  We send along all of our availability for the hearing at the same time as we send in the documents to be filed.  The court will usually get back to us within one to two weeks, and the hearing is usually scheduled within six weeks.  Similar to the NAP Appeal, the hearing for your Judicial Review will take place via WebEx.  You will be present at the hearing via telephone or WebEx.

If the lawyer is also filing the application for license reinstatement pending review, it would be filed no later than five days before your hearing.  If successful, this would allow you to continue to drive while we are awaiting the decision on the Judicial Review.

We are hopeful that as decisions begin to be released on Judicial Reviews in 2022, that the need to have recourse to judicial review will decrease.  However, if you have been unsuccessful on a NAP appeal already, do not wait to get in contact with a lawyer to start the next step.  One of our lawyers would be happy to take your call.