Brogan v. Carter
| Decision Date | 09 April 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-3691,95-3691 |
| Citation | 671 So.2d 822 |
| Parties | 108 Ed. Law Rep. 1365, 21 Fla. L. Weekly D853 Frank T. BROGAN, as Commissioner of Education, Appellant, v. Courtney L. CARTER, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
An appeal from Order of the Education Practices Commission.
J. David Holder, Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Ronald G. Meyer and Robert J. Sniffen of Meyer and Brooks, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellee.
The appellant Commissioner of Education challenges a final order of the Education Practices Commission (the commission) by which the commission dismissed the appellant's administrative complaint seeking disciplinary action against the appellee's teaching certificate. In dismissing the administrative complaint, the commission rejected the findings of fact contained in the hearing officer's recommended order based on the commission's determination that the findings of fact were not supported by clear and convincing evidence. Because the commission was without authority to determine whether the evidence presented in support of the administrative complaint was of sufficient quantity and quality to constitute clear and convincing evidence, we set aside the final order.
The appellant filed an administrative complaint whereby he sought disciplinary action against the appellee's teaching certificate. Following a hearing, the hearing officer entered a recommended order by which he found that the acts alleged in the administrative complaint had been proven by clear and convincing evidence, as required by Ferris v. Turlington, 510 So.2d 292 (Fla.1987), and concluded that such acts constituted violations of a disciplinary statute. Thereafter, the commission entered its final order by which it dismissed the administrative complaint because the commission concluded that the hearing officer's findings of fact were not supported by clear and convincing evidence.
The authority of an agency to reject or modify a hearing officer's findings of fact is specified in section 120.57(1)(b)10, Florida Statutes, which provides that an
agency may not reject or modify the findings of fact, including findings of fact that form the basis for an agency statement, unless the agency first determines from a review of the complete record, and states with particularity in the order, that the findings of fact were not based upon competent substantial evidence or that the proceedings on which the findings were based did not comply with the essential requirements of law.
This statute specifies two bases upon which an agency may reject a hearing officer's findings of fact. First, findings of fact may...
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SOUTH FLA. CARGO CARRIERS v. State
...presented as at DOAH final hearing beyond a determination of whether the evidence is competent and substantial. Brogan v. Carter, 671 So.2d 822, 823 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). A reviewing agency may not reweigh the evidence, resolve the conflicts therein, or judge the credibility of witnesses, as......
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Beckett v. Department of Financial Services
...by competent, substantial evidence or if there was a procedural irregularity in the proceedings before the ALJ. See Brogan v. Carter, 671 So.2d 822, 823 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). Of course, as this Court has recently observed, when the finding of fact under review is that a party did not carry h......
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Charlotte County v. Imc Phosphates Co.
...findings are not supported by competent, substantial evidence in the record. See § 120.57(1)(l), Fla. Stat. (2004); Brogan v. Carter, 671 So.2d 822, 823 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). If the findings are supported by record evidence and comply with the essential requirements of law, DEP is bound by t......
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N.W. v. Dept. of Children and Family Servs.
...It was only allowed to determine whether the evidence was competent and substantial to support the ALJ's decision. Brogan v. Carter, 671 So.2d 822, 823 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996). As N.W. correctly points out in her brief, this review does not give the Department the authority to build a new case ......