STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

RICKY DONALD BROWN, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 80-1720

) OFFICE OF TREASURER, INSURANCE ) COMMISSIONER, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

This matter came on for hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, before the Division of Administrative Hearings and its duly designated Hearing Officer, R.

1. Carpenter, on November 12, 1980. The parties were represented by:

   
   

   APPEARANCES

   
   

   For Petitioner: Ricky D. Brown, pro se

   601 North 15th Street

   Fort Pierce, Florida 33450

   
   

   For Respondent: Leon Rolle, Esquire

   Office of Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner

   220 Larson Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

   
   

   By letter dated August 26, 1980, Respondent denied Petitioner's application to qualify for licensing examination as a life and disability insurance agent.

   Denial was based on an alleged material omission in the application, conviction of a felony and the resultant demonstrated lack of fitness or truthfulness.

   Petitioner by undated letter subsequently requested hearing on this matter.

   
   

   FINDINGS OF FACT

   
   

   1. Petitioner was found guilty of breaking and entering in 1974, and was charged with burglary and attempted escape in 1976. The burglary charge was, upon adjudication reduced to trespassing and too attempted escape charge was dropped.

      
      

   2. Respondent's license application form contains the question, "Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a felony?" Details are required if a "yes" answer is given. Petitioner disclosed the 1974 breaking and entering conviction but did not include either of the 1976 charges or the 1976 misdemeanor conviction. However, this was not an attempt by Petitioner to withhold information, but was rather a misunderstanding of the request to list all felony charges regardless of disposition and not merely those involving felony convictions.

   3. Petitioner's reputation for truthfulness was attested to by the police officer who arrested him in 1974 and 1976, and monitored his subsequent rehabilitation. Petitioner readily admitted the acts for which he was arrested in 1974, and has never been otherwise known to lie.

      
      

   4. Petitioner, who was 26 years old at the time he filed his application in April of 1980, has overcome his earlier difficulties. Since 1976, he has completed a drug therapy program, taken mental health technician courses at a community college, and worked as a counselor and supervisor in a community mental health facility. He is currently a convenience store manager in Fort Pierce, and recently trained part-time with a local insurance agency in anticipation of licensing.

      
      

      CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

      
      

   5. Section 626.611, Florida Statutes (1979), provides for compulsory denial of an insurance license on the following grounds:

(2) Material misstatement, misrepresentation, or fraud in obtaining the license or permit, or in attempting to obtain the same.

(7) For demonstrated lack of fitness or trustworthiness to engage in the business of insurance.

(14) Has been found guilty of, or has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, a felony in this state or any other state which involves moral turpitude, without regard to whether a judgement or conviction has bees entered by the court having juris diction of such cases.

Section 626.621, Florida Statutes (1979), provides for discretionary denial on the following grounds:

(8) If such person has been found guilty of, or has pleaded guilty or nolo contemdere to, a felony in this state or any other state, without regard to whether a judgment of con viction has been entered by the court having jurisdiction of such cases.

In recognition of the passage of time since Petitioner's felony conviction, Respondent does not urge denial of licensing on this basis. Both the 1974 and 1976 convictions stemmed from Petitioner's immaturity as well as the drug dependency from which he has made a commendable recovery. In view of these facts and his current good conduct, Petitioner meets the fitness and trust worthiness standards requisite to licensing.

RECOMMENDATION

From the foregoing, it is

RECOMMENDED that the application of Ricky D. Brown for filing for examination as ordinary-combination life including disability agent be granted.

DONE and ORDERED this 10th day of December, 1980, in Tallahassee, Leon Country, Florida.

R. T. CARPENTER Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 10th day of December, 1980.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Mr. Ricky D. Brown 601 North 15th Street

Fort Pierce, Florida 33450

Leon Rolle, Esquire Office of Treasurer and

Insurance Commissioner

220 Larson Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 80-001720

Orders for Case No: 80-001720