Under Florida law, an individual or business entity holding a professional license has a right to due process before formal disciplinary action is imposed by a board. Upon deciding to impose disciplinary action against a licensee, a Board must follow penalty guidelines set forth in the Florida Administrative Code for that given body but may deviate upon the occurrence of specific aggravating or mitigating circumstances. Many Boards, however, have been known to overreach or abuse their discretion. In other words, the Board decides to impose a sanction outside the applicable guidelines without any aggravating factors to support the deviation. Thus, it is important for licensees to know their options in the event a Board oversteps their authority to destroy one’s livelihood.
Generally, when a state agency takes action against a licensee for alleged violations of law, the licensee must choose between a formal or informal hearing. Once a final order is issued at the end of either type of proceeding, a final agency order is issued, and it is that order that can be appealed to a District Court of Appeal for review. A Board's imposition of a penalty is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard by an appeals court. See Mendez v. Fla. Dep't of Health, 943 So.2d 909, 910 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006). Upon reviewing penalties imposed by an administrative agency, the appeals court must determine whether there are valid reasons in the record to support the agency's final order. See Grimberg v. Dep't of Prof'l Regulation, Bd. of Med., 542 So.2d 457, 457 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989).
Let’s discuss a few common scenarios. As an example, a Board’s penalty guidelines may call for a simple fine and continuing education for a particular offense. Further, let’s say the licensee showed the presence of multiple mitigating factors at hearing, such as a potential loss of livelihood, no prior disciplinary history, and immediate corrective action. Despite the foregoing, if the Board still deemed suspension or revocation as the appropriate sanction, this would present a case for reversal on appeal as the Board abused its discretion. Let’s now change the hypothetical to having no mitigating factors present before the Board, but the Board finds alleged aggravating factors to support a harsh penalty of suspension or revocation. Unless the Board supports those conclusions with specific facts, this scenario would also present a case for reversal as the record must have valid reasons for such conclusions.
To appeal a final order of a state agency, a licensee must file a notice of appeal with the clerk of the agency. In addition, the licensee must also file a copy of the notice of appeal with the appropriate District Court of Appeal. Licensees have 30 days from the date of the final order to initiate an appeal. Moreover, in the event of a sanction such as suspension or revocation, licensees have the ability to seek a stay, or temporary pause, of an agency’s final order until an appeal has reached a final decision. Accordingly, licensees have appeal rights and options for temporary relief in the event of an abuse of discretion.
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