ROBERT W. FOLEY, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, APPELLEE
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.
The court held that the Department of Health was equitably estopped from revoking a paramedic's certificate without a hearing due to reliance on advice that an untimely filing would be accepted.
[1] A government agency may be equitably estopped from enforcing a rule when it advises a party that an untimely filing will be accepted and the party detrimentally relies on…
[2] A final order revoking a professional certificate may not be entered sua sponte without a hearing or notice when the agency has previously agreed to withdraw a motion for…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Department of Health filed a complaint to revoke Robert Foley's paramedic certificate. Foley claimed he timely served an Election of Rights, but t…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Election Of Rights cases and more on FLexlaw
GRIMES, HUBERT L., Associate Judge.
We grant appellee’s unopposed Motion for Rehearing and Clarification, withdraw the previous opinion in this case and substitute the following:
The Florida Department of Health (“Department”) filed an administrative complaint against appellant to revoke his paramedic’s certificate. The certificate of service shows that the complaint was mailed to appellant, Robert W. Foley, and received by H.W. Foley on May 10, 2001. On June 7, 2001, the Department filed and served a Motion for Default because it did not receive appellant’s Election of Rights form in a timely fashion.
Appellant alleges that he served the Election of Rights reply upon the Department on June 6, 2001. He alleges that he checked off the box on the form indicating that he did not dispute the facts alleged in the original complaint but requested an evidentiary hearing to offer proof of mitigation. The attorney for the Department received the election after filing the Motion for Default and then agreed to withdraw the motion. However, the Secretary of the Department thereafter, sua sponte, entered a final order revoking Foley’s certificate without a hearing or notice because appellant did not timely file or serve his election of rights.
The Department confesses error in entering this order revoking appellant’s par amedic certificate without a hearing. The Department acknowledges that it was equitably estopped from entering the order because the attorney for the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services advised appellant that his untimely “Election of Rights” form would be accepted and appellant detrimentally relied upon that representation and took no action subsequent to the filing of the election of rights form.
Accordingly, we reverse and remand this matter with instructions to the Department to conduct a proceeding pursuant to section 120.57(2), Florida Statutes, on the administrative complaint and afford appellant an opportunity to present evidence in mitigation as requested.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
FARMER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Eric Michael Patz, M.D. v. Dep't OF Health, 864 So. 2d 79 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)…742 So. 2d 473, 476 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)(refusing to apply equitable tolling doctrine where the Department did not mislead the other party but "was the result of appellant’s own inattention”). We also find Foley v. State of Florida Dept. Of Health, 839 So. 2d 828 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), distinguishable. In Foley, the Department of Health confessed error acknowledging that it was equitably estopped from securing a default because it had advised that an untimely Election of Rights would be accepted and that the p…
-
Riverwood Nursing Ctr., LLC v. Agency for Health Care Admin., 58 So. 3d 907 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)…d already expired. However, Glenwood admits that it was aware of the June 14, 2010, filing deadline and does not allege that any representative of AHCA extended the deadline by agreement before the deadline expired. Citing Foley v. Dep’t of Health, 839 So. 2d 828 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), in support of its equitable tolling argument, Glenwood asserts that it detrimentally relied on the representations made by AHCA’s counsel that the agency would agree to accept Glenwood’s request after the filing deadline and arg…