COMMERCIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE

If you have a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) you are not eligible for diversion regardless of the facts of your case. This is one of the most problematic and unfair pieces of law in Oregon. Many people who have a CDL have let their CDL expire or have forgotten that they even have a CDL. If you do not use your CDL you should relinquish it and change to a traditional Oregon Driver’s License.

In my experience Judges are very sympathetic to people that cannot do diversion because they have a CDL. It is often worth it to go to trial and take your chances with the jury if you are ineligible for diversion because you hold a CDL. You have nothing to lose by going to trial, and Judges are less likely to punish you simply for exercising your right to a trial.