JOHN T. BECKUM, O.D., PETITIONER,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, BOARD OF OPTOMETRY, RESPONDENT

Fla. 1st DCA | 1983-02-16
No. AR-104
LARRY G. SMITH and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.
427 So. 2d 276 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1983) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 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

John Beckum, a licensed optometrist facing disciplinary proceedings, petitioned for immediate review of a hearing officer's order denying his motion to dismiss. The court denied his petition because the procedural irregularities he complained of—defects in recording probable cause proceedings—were not jurisdictional in nature and could be adequately remedied through review of the final agency decision.


Holding

The court held that Beckum was not entitled to immediate review under Rule 9.100 because the asserted procedural irregularities were not jurisdictional in nature, and review of the final agency decision would provide an adequate remedy. The court declined to rule on the merits of whether the probable cause proceedings contained sufficient evidence to support the probable cause determination.


Headnotes

[1] A petition for review of nonfinal agency action is appropriate only when review of the final agency decision would not provide an adequate remedy.

[2] Alleged procedural errors in administrative probable cause proceedings are not considered jurisdictional defects that would warrant immediate judicial review of an interm…

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Key Quotes

“To sustain a probable cause determination there must be some evidence considered by the panel that would reasonably indicate that the violations alleged had indeed occurred.”

Standard from Kibler establishing the evidentiary threshold for probable cause findings

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Facts & Procedural History

Beckum, a licensed optometrist, was subject to disciplinary proceedings initiated after a probable cause panel of the Board of Optometry found probabl…

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Opinion of the Court
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Chief Judge.

ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., Chief Judge.

We deny Beckum’s Rule 9.100 petition for review of nonfinal agency action. See § 120.68(1), Florida Statutes (1982).

Beckum’s petition complains of the February 2, 1983 order of hearing officer Benton, denying in part Beckum’s motion to dismiss disciplinary proceedings against him by the Department of Professional Regulation pursuant to section 455.225, Florida Statutes (1981). Beckum, a licensed optometrist, urged to the hearing officer that the complaint, referred to the Division of Administrative Hearings on a finding of probable cause by a probable cause panel of the Board of Optometry, should be dismissed for failure of the probable cause panel to record its proceedings electronically “in a manner sufficient to assure the accurate transcription of all matters so recorded,” section 455.203(7).

The recording machine inexplicably did not operate properly. Bee- kum also avers a violation of section 455.-221(2), providing that “no attorney employed or utilized by the department shall prosecute a matter and provide legal services to the board with respect to the same matter.”

Because the panel’s probable cause proceedings were imperfectly recorded, the panel reconstituted its proceedings through depositions of panel members, a process that the hearing officer accepted in lieu of a recording, reasoning that the panel at least attempted to comply with the recording requirement. But Beckum urges that the absence of an accurate recording of the original probable cause proceedings effectively deprives him of his asserted entitlement to assure that the probable cause proceedings met standards prescribed by Kibler v. Department of Professional Regulation, 418 So. 2d 1081, 1084 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982):

To sustain a probable cause determination there must be some evidence considered by the panel that would reasonably indicate that the violations alleged had indeed occurred.

If the asserted errors and omissions of the probable cause panel could be considered jurisdictional in any sense, implicating its power to act at all in the premises, Beckum might argue with some merit that he should have immediate section 120.68(1) judicial review, through Rule 9.100, of the hearing officer’s “preliminary, procedural, or intermediate” ruling. For in that case it might be said that “review of the final agency decision would not provide an adequate remedy” to one who, as a result of an erroneous preliminary ruling, must now undergo disciplinary proceedings with all they entail in loss of time, expense, and damage to professional reputation. But as these asserted irregularities are in no sense jurisdictional, and the disciplinary proceedings to follow will be vitiated only upon a finding that “the fairness of the proceedings or the correctness of the action may have been impaired by a material error in procedure or a failure to follow prescribed procedure,” section 120.68(8), we think it evident that Beckum has failed to demonstrate grounds for Rule 9.100 intervention by this court. He has not shown that “review of the final agency decision would not provide an adequate remedy.” Section 120.68(1).

We intimate no view of whether or to what extent the hearing officer preliminarily, or this court upon review of final agency action, should examine the record of the probable cause proceedings in search of “some evidence ... that would reasonably indicate that the violations alleged had indeed occurred.” Kibler, 418 So. 2d at 1084.

The petition for review of non-final administrative action is DENIED.

LARRY G. SMITH and THOMPSON, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Carter v. Dep't of Prof'l Reg., 633 So. 2d 3 (Fla. 1994)
    …of Professional Regulation, 453 So. 2d 842 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (agency’s failure to inform doctor of nature of complaint against him pursuant to section 455.225(1) was subject to harmless error rule); Beckum v. Department of Professional Regulation, 427 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983) (probable cause panel’s failure to record its proceedings as required by section 455.203(7) was subject to review pursuant to section 120.68(8)). Carter contends that because section 455.-225 contains implicit sanctions Hyman sh…
    1 / 2
  • Donald J. Carrow, M.D. v. Dep't of Prof'l Reg., 453 So. 2d 842 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)
    …h Section 455.225(1) is true, this error cannot be considered jurisdictional in any sense' and Carrow has not demonstrated a need for immediate non-final review at this time. Beckum v. State Department of Professional Regulation, Board of Optometry, 427 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Should it subsequently be shown that this investigation was procedurally irregular, and that any irregularities were material and impaired the fairness of the proceedings, this court upon final review could vitiate the agency ac…
  • Carter v. Dep't of Prof'l Reg., 613 So. 2d 78 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)
    …at “any irregularities related to probable cause were not in any sense jurisdictional, especially in light of the panel’s attempt to reconstitute its finding and cure any alleged error,” citing Beckum v. State, Department of Professional Regulation, 427 So. 2d 276 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Relying on School Board of Leon County v. Weaver, 556 So. 2d 443 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), the Department urges that, just as the failure by the Florida Commission on Human Relations to file a final order for some ten months after is…

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