MARVE ALAN DUBIN, PETITIONER,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS REGULATION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Fla. 1st DCA | 1972-05-02
No. P-158
CARROLL, DONALD K.,‘ and WIG-GINTON, JJ., concur.
262 So. 2d 273 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1972) Caution
Cited by 10 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed an administrative board's refusal to renew a horse trainer's license, holding that license non-renewal must follow the same due process procedures as license revocation, including formal charges, evidence, and a quasi-judicial hearing.


Holding

A license non-renewal cannot serve as a substitute for revocation proceedings. Before refusing to renew a license, the administrative agency must file specific charges setting forth with reasonable particularity the grounds for its action and must afford all procedural safeguards under Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, including a quasi-judicial hearing at which the agency bears the burden of adducing evidence supportive of the charges.


Headnotes

[1] Refusal to renew a license, once issued, cannot be used as a substitute for a license revocation proceeding.

[2] Administrative agencies must afford licensees due process, including notice of specific charges and a hearing, before refusing to renew a license.

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Key Quotes

“refusal to renew a license to a person who has once demonstrated that he possesses the statutory prerequisites to licensure cannot be used as a substitute for a license revocation proceeding”

Establishes the core holding that non-renewal cannot circumvent revocation procedures

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Facts & Procedural History

Petitioner Marve Dubin, a horse trainer who had held his license for some years, sought to renew it. The Department of Business Regulation refused ren…

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Opinion of the Court
SPECTOR, Chief Judge.

SPECTOR, Chief Judge.

Petitioner seeks review of an order entered by the respondent board refusing to renew petitioner’s license as a horse trainer, which apparently he had held for some years. The chief complaint raised by petitioner in this proceeding is that respondent failed to adduce evidence at the hearing which resulted in the nonrenewal order.

Respondent contends that the issuance of licenses and annual renewals thereof are unlike the usual revocation proceedings which require the holding of a quasi-judicial hearing preceded by specific charges, notice of hearing, the appearance of witnesses, cross-examination and the like. Respondent contends that a licensee has a continuing burden to demonstrate that he possesses all of the statutory prerequisites to licensure each year when his license comes up for renewal. The letter by which the respondent notified petitioner that his license would not be renewed for the ensuing year stated as the reason that petitioner lacked the integrity required to be had by all applicants for license. At the hearing, petitioner objected to the absence of specific charges and evidence against him. Apparently, the absence of evidence was explained by the respondent’s mistaken view that the burden to demonstrate his qualifications rested with petitioner, who of course remained mute.

Regrettably, the respondent has misconstrued the nature of its duties and obligations as they relate to its license renewing function. The courts of this State have held that refusal to renew a license to a person who has once demonstrated that he possesses the statutory prerequisites to li-censure cannot be used as a substitute for a license revocation proceeding. In Vocelle v. Riddell, 119 So.2d 809 (Fla.App.1960), the court held that under Chapter 449, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., once a license had been issued, the annual renewal thereof follows as a ministerial duty; and if a violation occurs, the Industrial Commission must resort to revocation rather than a denial of renewal.

More recently, in Wilson v. Pest Control Commission of Florida, 199 So.2d 777 (Fla.App.1967), the court was confronted with a situation not unlike that now before us. There, Wilson, a licensee of the Pest *275Control Commission for some time, had been refused renewal of his license without having been afforded a full administrative hearing, quasi-judicial in nature, as provided by Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, F. S.A. The court held that the statute in question there was to be read in pari ma-teria with Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, to afford due process to parties whose legal rights and privileges may be determined by administrative action. The court stated:

“One could justifiably expend considerable sums of .money in reliance upon the right to continue in business. Penal sanctions should therefore be directed only towards those who by their conduct have forfeited their privilege, and such privilege should be denied only after due process of law in a full, open and fair hearing. The power to stop the renewal of licenses once issued and needed in order to engage in a specific business is indeed an ominous power and should be exercised with no less careful circumspection than the original issuance of the license.”

We think the case at bar is controlled by the principles enunciated by the court in Wilson, supra. Before the respondent board may refuse to renew a license, charges must be filed against the licensee setting forth with a reasonable degree of specificity the grounds upon which it bases its action and all other procedural safeguards as provided by Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, must be afforded. In such a proceeding, the burden is upon the administrative agency to adduce' evidence • supportive of the charges preferred.

Accordingly, we quash the order reviewed herein and remand this cause to the respondent board with directions to proceed in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 120, Florida Statutes.

CARROLL, DONALD K.,‘ and WIG-GINTON, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • City OF Tampa v. Islands Four, Inc., 364 So. 2d 738 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978)
    …he time of this action by the city council the provisions applicable to dance halls have been substantially revised. This opinion does not necessarily apply to actions taken pursuant to the revised code. . Appellee cites Dubin v. Dep’t of Business, 262 So. 2d 273 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972) and Vocelle v. Riddell, 119 So. 2d 809 (Fla. 2d DCA 1960) to support its contention that renewal in this case is a mandatory and ministerial duty. Unlike the ordinance before us, the statutes in Dubin and Voceiie specifically add…
  • Childers v. Dep't OF Env't Prot., 696 So. 2d 962 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
    …the presence or size of shrimp. .The suspension order has been stayed pending appeal, and the case is not moot. See generally City of Tampa v. Islands Four, Inc., 364 So. 2d 738, 740 n. 5 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978); Dubin v. Department of Bus. Regulation, 262 So. 2d 273 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972)(holding non-renewal of annual license cannot serve as substitute for revocation proceedings). . On the other hand, the substantial restatement of an old ground in a new statute authorizes disciplinary action on the preexisting g…
  • Emiddio v. Fla. Off. of Fin. Reg., 147 So. 3d 587 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)
    …tected property interest in her professional employment” and asked the hearing officer to take official recognition of Wilson v. Pest Control Commission of Florida, 199 So. 2d 777 (Fla. 4th DCA 1967), and Du-bin v. Department of Business Regulation, 262 So. 2d 273 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972), in support of that challenge. However, the hearing officer declined to address the constitutional argument, stating that it lacked authority as an executive agency officer to declare a statute or rule unconstitutional, and Appel…

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