Department of Professional Regulation v. Nudel
Department of Professional Regulation v. Nudel
Opinion of the Court
Pending a disciplinary proceeding before the Board of Medicine, based on alleged acts of “repeated malpractice,” and notwithstanding the specific finding that the statutory provision, § 458.331(l)(t), Florida Statutes (1985), challenged by the appellee was not unconstitutional on its face, the trial court entered a declaratory judgment enjoining the proceeding on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional as applied to Dr. Nudel. This was error.
It is well established that a trial court’s authority to interfere with or preclude an on-going administrative proceeding is strictly limited to a situation in which it is claimed and determined that a statute upon which the proposed agency order is based is facially invalid. Key Haven v. Board of Trustees, 427 So.2d 153, 157 (Fla.
. Not only do we agree that the statute is not unconstitutional, see Ayala v. Department of Professional Regulation, 478 So.2d 1116 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985), we do not believe, since the incidents complained of occurred prior to the enactment of the statute in question, that it is even pertinent to the instant proceeding, that is, that it was about to be "applied” to Dr. Nudel at all. On the latter basis, the holding of facial constitutionality may well be considered dictum or as moot for lack of standing. See 10 Fla.Jur.2d Constitutional Law § 62 (1979).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.