WENCESLAO M. LORA, AND ACA AND ASSOCIATES, INC., APPELLANTS,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, DIVISION OF LICENSING, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1990-11-06
No. 90-1235
Before FERGUSON, COPE and LEVY, JJ.
569 So. 2d 840 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1990) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 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

The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the Department of State's revocation of a private investigator's license following his 1985 criminal conviction for burglary, unlawful interception of communications, and criminal conspiracy. The court rejected all four arguments for reversal, including claims of retroactive application of statute, insufficient evidence, lack of final conviction, and equitable estoppel.


Holding

The court affirmed the license revocation, rejecting all four arguments. The revocation was properly grounded in a statute that existed before the conviction, the guilty plea provided sufficient proof of crimes directly related to the licensed business, the conviction was final despite pending collateral attacks, and equitable estoppel does not prevent a governmental entity from enforcing statutorily mandated penalties.


Headnotes

[1] A conviction based on a withheld adjudication following a guilty plea is sufficient proof to justify disciplinary action for a professional license revocation when the cr…

[2] A collateral attack on criminal judgments, such as post-trial motions for relief, does not affect the finality of those judgments for the purpose of administrative discip…

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Key Quotes

“This administrative action, unlike Middlebrooks v. Department of State, 565 So.2d 727 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), on which the appellant relies, was instituted pursuant to section 493.319(l)(c) which was in existence prior to the 1985 convictions.”

Establishes that the revocation was grounded in a pre-existing statute, avoiding retroactivity issues.

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Facts & Procedural History

Lora, a private investigator and repossessor, pleaded guilty in 1985 to burglary, unlawful interception of oral and wire communications, and criminal …

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Opinion of the Court
FERGUSON, Judge.

FERGUSON, Judge.

Lora, a private investigator and reposses-sor, had his license revoked after a conviction in 1985 for burglary, unlawful interception of oral and wire communications, and criminal conspiracy. The conviction was entered on a guilty plea where adjudication was withheld.

The Division of Licensing brought an administrative action for license revocation pursuant to sections 493.319(l)(c) and (3), Florida Statutes (1989). An informal hearing was conducted in accordance with section 120.57, Florida Statutes (1989).

Mr. Lora makes four arguments: (1) The agency action must be reversed as it was based on a retroactive application of section 493.319(3), which was not enacted until two years after Lora’s conviction; (2) the revocation was not supported by the evidence; (3) there has been no final determination of guilt in that the conviction based on the plea is the subject of a pending appeal; and (4) the agency is equitably estopped from revoking the license until the appeal is final. None of the arguments are grounds for reversing the revocation order. We need not decide whether a retroactive application of section 493.319(3) would be permissible. This administrative action, unlike Middlebrooks v. Department of State, 565 So. 2d 727 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), on which the appellant relies, was instituted pursuant to section 493.319(l)(c) which was in existence prior to the 1985 convictions.

Second, the appellant’s plea to the charges of burglary, unlawful interception of communications, and criminal conspiracy is sufficient proof to justify disciplinary action. It is not disputed that the crimes are directly related to the business for which the license was issued.

Third, the conviction for the offenses enumerated above is final as no appeal was taken from the disposition of that prosecution. The pending action to which the appellant refers is a collateral attack on the convictions pursuant to post-trial motions for relief. Collateral attacks on criminal judgments do not affect the finality of those judgments. The Florida Bar v. MacGuire, 529 So. 2d 669 (Fla.1988), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 110 S.Ct. 413, 107 L.Ed.2d 378 (1989).

Finally, principles of equitable estoppel do not apply to prevent a governmental entity from enforcing statutorily mandated penal actions against those who violate the laws. See e.g., City of New York v. New York State Dept. of Envtl. Conserv., 89 A.D.2d 274, 456 N.Y.S.2d 462 (N.Y.App.Div.1982) (equitable estoppel can never be used to prevent state from enforcing its laws); State v. Knutson, 178 Neb. 375, 133 N.W. 2d 577 (1965) (equitable estoppel is not a defense against state’s enforcement of criminal statute).

Affirmed.


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Cited By

  • Kelly v. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 610 So. 2d 1375 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)
    …otnote omitted.] Likewise, the statutory disqualification is triggered by a confirmed report of abuse in the abuse registry. Facts established in a criminal prosecution may not be relitigated in an administrative forum. Lora v. Department of State, 569 So. 2d 840 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); McGraw v. Department of State, 491 So. 2d 1193 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); The Florida Bar v. Vernell, 374 So. 2d 473 (Fla.1979). Pursuant to chapter 402, a no contest plea to child abuse, alone, disqualifies one from licensure or empl…
    1 / 2
  • Quinn v. Monroe Cnty., 330 F.3d 1320 (11th Cir. 2003)
    …se in a subsequent civil action.” Kelly v. Dep’t of Health & Rehabilitative Servs., 610 So. 2d 1375, 1377 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1992); Paterno v. Fernandez, 569 So. 2d 1349, 1350 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1990); see also Lora v. Dep’t of State, Div. of Licensing, 569 So. 2d 840 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1990). Similarly, in Brown v. City of Hialeah, 30 F. 3d 1433, 1437 (11th Cir.1994), this Court affirmed the district court’s ruling “that under Florida law, collateral es-toppel prevented Brown from introducing and arguing facts in…

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