FUN AND FROLIC, INC., D/B/A HAMMER'S PACKAGE STORE, APPELLANT,
v.
DIVISION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND TOBACCO, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1984-09-12
No. 83-1445
GLICKSTEIN and DELL, JJ., concur.
457 So. 2d 509 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1984) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Fun and Frolic, Inc. appeals the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco's revocation of its alcoholic beverage license. The court affirms the revocation, finding that the appellant waived its right to a formal hearing and appeal by agreeing to a settlement requiring it to surrender its license within 90 days, and the Division's enforcement of that settlement was proper despite administrative procedural defects.


Holding

The court affirms the revocation, holding that appellant waived all procedural requirements through its clear stipulated settlement agreement and that the Division's enforcement of the settlement agreement was proper. The court rejects appellant's claims regarding unsigned notices, lack of findings of fact, and failure to issue timely final orders, as these were all waived by the settlement.


Headnotes

[1] Parties may waive procedural requirements, including findings of fact and conclusions of law, through a stipulated settlement agreement.

[2] An administrative agency's delay in enforcing a settlement agreement does not necessarily invalidate its subsequent enforcement action, absent prejudice to the party.

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Key Quotes

“appellant, in the clearest of terms, waived any such requirements by the stipulated settlement agreement presented to the hearing officer on March 18, 1981”

Establishes that appellant's acceptance of the settlement waived all procedural defects it later complained of on appeal

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Facts & Procedural History

In March 1981, Fun and Frolic, Inc. and the Division reached a settlement agreement at a hearing on charges that would otherwise lead to license revoc…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

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Opinion of the Court
DOWNEY, Judge.

DOWNEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final order of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco revoking appellant’s alcoholic beverage license.

Pursuant to notice to show cause why-appellant’s beverage license should not be revoked, a formal hearing was scheduled for March 18, 1981. At the commencement of said hearing, counsel for appellant and the Division advised the hearing officer that they had reached an agreement regarding the charges and that a formal hearing was unnecessary. Counsel then stated on the record the terms of the settlement, which allowed appellant ninety days in which to sell the corporate entity. When the corporation was sold or the ninety-day period had expired, whichever occurred first, appellant was to surrender its beverage license to the Division for cancellation. Appellant waived his right to an evidentiary hearing and any appeal of the matters covered in the agreement. Finally, appellant agreed that no corporate officer, director or shareholder of appellant would ever again apply for or transfer an alcoholic beverage license, or engage in the alcoholic beverage business.

Although the pertinent agreement dictated at the hearing before the hearing officer was stated to be in the nature of a final administrative action, and failure to abide by said agreement would subject appellant to the provisions of section 120.69, Florida Statutes (1981), the Division prepared a proposed written agreement for appellant’s execution. Instead of signing said agreement, appellant returned a modified agreement which was unacceptable to the Division. In any event, the hearing officer closed the files on this case without any written order having been entered.

It would appear that the case then “fell through the cracks” as the saying goes. The ninety days came and went, but appellant failed to surrender the license or sell the corporation. In fact, the license was renewed for the two ensuing years. Then, in November 1982 the Division issued an order revoking appellant’s license for failure to comply with the settlement agreement of March 1981. Appellant was afforded a hearing on April 19, 1983, after which the hearing officer recommended revocation of the license. A final order was entered on said recommendation and appellant perfected this appeal.

Appellant suggests several errors in the administrative proceedings such as (1) the notice to show cause initiating this proceeding in 1980 was unsigned, (2) after the March 1981 hearing the hearing officer did not make findings of fact and conclusions of law, and (3) the hearing officer did not render a proposed order or recommend administrative action to the Division.

We reject all of these supposed errors because appellant, in the clearest of terms, waived any such requirements by the stipulated settlement agreement presented to the hearing officer on March 18, 1981. Furthermore, we do not believe the oversight on the part of the Division in strictly enforcing the agreement according to the terms should inure to appellant’s benefit. There are no due process considerations involved. Appellant was adequately heard, and it agreed without a contest to do exactly what the Division has proposed to do, i.e., retire appellant’s beverage license. In addition, though appellant talks of prejudice, none was shown to have occurred as a result of the Division’s delay in taking appellant’s license.

Appellant also contends the failure to enter a final agency order within ninety days after the March 18, 1981 agreement, as required by section 120.59(1), is fatal to the Division’s position in this proceeding. We reject that contention in view of the posture appellant assumed at the March 18th hearing. Section 120.57(3) authorizes “informal disposition ... of ... proceeding[s] by stipulation, agreed settlement, or consent order.”

In our judgment, appellant has failed to demonstrate any reversible error in the ac tion taken by the Division in its final order of June 24, 1983. Accordingly, the order appealed from is affirmed.

GLICKSTEIN and DELL, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • NEW v. Dep't of Banking & Fin., 554 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
    …actorily terminate the matter fail to do so, then the proper procedure is to resume formal § 120.57 proceedings. United Telephone Co. of Florida v. Mann, 403 So. 2d 962 (Fla.1981); Fun and Frolic, Inc. v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, 457 So. 2d 509 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). Upon resumption of formal proceedings all evidence presented at the informal proceeding becomes a part of the record of the formal proceeding. United Telephone Co. of Florida. In this case, when the parties were unable to arriv…

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