Writing and Challenging Emergency Orders, Part II

A legal firm is being investigated for their business practices, and an attorney is being accused of mishandling cases. The investigation is ongoing, and it is important for the legal system to ensure that everyone is following the rules. Challenging an emergency order involves proving that it doesn’t meet the requirements set by the law, and that it doesn’t protect the public or treat the licensee fairly. To do this, a licensee’s attorney can file a petition for review with the appellate court within 30 days of the emergency order being issued. This petition should explain why the emergency order should be overturned. The appellate court will only consider the facts in the emergency order itself, not any additional evidence. It’s important for the attorney to focus on showing that the emergency order doesn’t meet the legal requirements, rather than getting caught up in arguing about the facts of the case. If a licensee gets in trouble and wants to challenge the emergency order, they should focus on the order itself and not provide extra documentation to the court. They can still dispute the allegations and show they are not a danger to the public. And if they need to keep working while they fight the order, they can ask the court for a temporary hold on the order. It can be a tough process, but there are ways to challenge the order and get help quickly. The Florida Legislature has rules that allow a regulatory agency to suspend a license before a hearing if there is an immediate danger to public safety. This was discussed in a previous article and is supported by court cases. The agency must show specific facts demonstrating the immediate danger in an emergency order. If the danger is not immediate, the agency cannot suspend the license. In these court cases, the judges decided that the government cannot suspend a business license without explaining why other options wouldn’t work. They also said that if a license is suspended, the government must quickly start a formal process to decide if the suspension is fair. If a licensed professional wants to challenge a suspension by a state agency, they must file a petition for review with the appropriate district court of appeal. The petition must meet certain formatting requirements, and the court will only consider the information included in the agency’s suspension order. It’s important to file the petition on time and in the correct district court. If the suspension was issued without a hearing, the court will review the order based only on the information in the order itself. These are quotes from court cases in Florida. They talk about how emergency orders from government agencies must be supported by evidence, and how the affected parties have the right to a formal hearing to challenge the order. One case even said the government must give a hearing without delay after taking emergency action. Another case said the court can only consider the emergency order itself and not other documents or evidence. In some cases, when a company’s license is suspended by a government agency, the company can ask a higher court to temporarily stop the suspension while they appeal. However, this is not always allowed and the rules for this can be different depending on the situation. For example, in one case, a school asked a court to stop an order from the government, and in another case, a company did the same thing.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/writing-and-challenging-emergency-orders-part-ii/