Case library / Convictions, and the duty to report one
A drive-through altercation, then no answer to the Board
In short
Registration revoked by default under Government Code section 11520. The decision records investigation and enforcement
$2,597.50He never reported the conviction, never answered two letters, and never filed a notice of defense; the registration was revoked without a hearing.
Two misdemeanors from a parking-lot argument would have been a contested case; the silence turned it into a revocation with no hearing at all.
What happened
On or about December 16, 2022, officers were dispatched to a fast-food restaurant to investigate an altercation in the drive-through lane. Witness statements, security footage, and mobile-phone footage showed that the respondent pulled his car in front of another driver’s car and that she yelled at him. He got out, walked to her window, reached into her car, and tried to take the phone out of her hand. He fell, got up, and tried to take the phone again. He then called her a racial slur and told her to go back where she came from, or words to that effect.
On April 13, 2023, in Orange County Superior Court, he was convicted on his plea of guilty of violating Penal Code section 240, assault, and Penal Code section 242, battery, both misdemeanors. The court granted one year of informal probation, during which he was to enroll in and complete a 10-session anger management program, stay at least 100 yards from the location of the crime, and pay restitution, among other terms.
He did not report the conviction to the Board. On May 23, 2023 and again on October 3, 2023, the Board wrote to his address of record asking for a description of the circumstances of the arrest, any evidence of rehabilitation, and proof that he had complied with the court’s orders. He never responded to either letter and never notified the Board of the conviction.
The Board filed an accusation on May 6, 2024 and served it on May 17, 2024 by certified and first class mail at the address of record he is required by law to keep current with the Board. He did not file a notice of defense within 15 days, which waived his right to a hearing on the merits. His registration expired on May 31, 2024 and was not eligible for renewal, which did not stop the proceeding.
The Board took the case by default, found the allegations true by clear and convincing evidence on the investigatory evidence packet alone, and found the actual costs of investigation and enforcement to be $2,597.50 as of June 11, 2024.
What it was charged as
A board may suspend or revoke a license because the licensee was convicted of a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the profession.
Conviction of a substantially related crime is unprofessional conduct for a marriage and family therapist registrant or licensee; the record of conviction proves only that the conviction happened, and the Board may inquire into the surrounding circumstances.
Failure to report any felony or misdemeanor conviction to the Board within 30 days is itself unprofessional conduct; a conviction includes a verdict of guilty and a plea of guilty or no contest.
Failure to give the Board documentation about the licensee’s or registrant’s arrest within 30 days of a request is unprofessional conduct.
Expiration, cancelation, or surrender of a registration does not deprive the Board of jurisdiction to start or finish a disciplinary case.
The Board may seek the reasonable costs of investigating and enforcing a case from a licensee found to have violated the licensing act.
The outcome
Registration revoked by default under Government Code section 11520. The decision records investigation and enforcement costs of $2,597.50; the order itself directed revocation and gave him seven days after service to move to vacate the decision for good cause.
$2,597.50ordered in cost recovery under B&P §125.3What the rule actually says
A conviction creates two separate duties, and the second one is the one people miss. The first is substantive: a conviction substantially related to the profession is a ground for discipline, weighed on the nature and gravity of the offense, the years since it happened, and the duties of the profession. The second is procedural and absolute: within 30 days of any felony or misdemeanor conviction — including one entered on a plea of guilty or no contest — you must report it to the Board in writing, and within 30 days of a Board request you must produce documentation about an arrest. Both duties run to the address of record you are required to keep current, and service there is effective whether or not you open the mail. Failing to file a notice of defense within 15 days of an accusation waives the hearing and lets the Board decide the case on its own evidence packet.
Discussion
Analysis, not part of the decision
The interesting question in this file is the one nobody got to argue. Section 493 and title 16, section 1812 require the Board to weigh the nature and gravity of the offense, the number of years elapsed, and the nature and duties of the profession before calling a crime substantially related, and section 493(b)(2) forbids categorically barring someone on the type of conviction without considering rehabilitation. Section 1814 sets out a nine-factor rehabilitation analysis for exactly this situation, including whether the criminal sentence was completed without a violation of probation. None of that machinery ran. He defaulted, so the allegations were deemed true and the Board decided on its own evidence packet.
The second cause is independent of the first. Even if he had argued successfully that a misdemeanor assault in a drive-through lane was not substantially related to sitting with clients, the failure-to-report violation would have stood on its own. The regulation runs from the date of conviction, not from the end of criminal probation, and the Board’s two letters — five months apart — each triggered a separate 30-day production deadline. This is the trap for anyone whose criminal defense attorney has told them to say nothing to anyone.
The registration expiring did not rescue him either. It expired on May 31, 2024, two weeks after service and before the decision issued, and was not eligible for renewal. The Board proceeded anyway under sections 118(b) and 4990.33, so the revocation is now permanently on his license history rather than a lapse that quietly disappeared.
There is a narrow door left open. Government Code section 11520(c) lets a defaulted respondent move to vacate within seven days of service of the decision on a showing of good cause, and the order says so expressly. Seven days is not long, and it starts running from service at the same address of record the previous three letters went to.
Where insurance reaches, and where it does not
A professional liability policy would not have touched the underlying conduct. Assault and battery are intentional and criminal acts, excluded from every professional liability policy, and the incident had nothing to do with professional services in any event. What a policy usually does provide is a separate license-defense limit covering the cost of an attorney when the Board opens an investigation or files an accusation — which is precisely the point in a case like this. That coverage is only useful if you notify the carrier when the Board’s first letter arrives; it cannot help after a default has been entered.
What would have changed it
- Report any conviction — misdemeanor, infraction-adjacent, or no-contest plea — to the Board in writing within 30 days, without waiting for sentencing, expungement, or your criminal lawyer to finish.
- Keep the address of record current and read everything sent there; service at that address is legally effective even if the mail never reaches you.
- Answer a Board inquiry even when the facts are bad, and file the notice of defense within 15 days; a default gives up the hearing where rehabilitation would have been weighed.
Questions
For a law and ethics seminar, or for yourself
- Section 493 directs a board to weigh the nature and gravity of the offense, the years elapsed, and the duties of the profession. Construct the professional-fitness argument connecting an off-duty assault in a drive-through lane to clinical work with clients, and then the strongest rebuttal.
- The racial slur appears in the factual allegations but is not itself a charged violation. What work is it doing in the document, and is it legitimate for uncharged conduct to shape a penalty?
- The reporting regulation runs from the date of conviction, while criminal defense counsel routinely advise saying nothing until the case is fully resolved. How should a registrant resolve that conflict, and whose job is it to tell them the two systems have different clocks?
Source. This write-up is drawn from the signed public decision in the case number above. Names, cities and employers have been removed — why. To pull the original, open the Board's quarterly newsletter archive, find the issue covering August 15, 2024, and match the case number in the Formal Disciplinary Actions section. Not legal advice.
