The California Department of Insurance wields arguably the most powerful licensing law in California, California Insurance Code section 1669.  Section 1669, which applies to applicants but also to existing insurance broker licenses through a related statute, empowers the Commissioner to summarily deny or summarily revoke (without a hearing) an insurance broker license for a felony conviction or any Insurance Code misdemeanor conviction, or if the applicant or licensee has had any occupational license (including an insurance broker license) denied, revoked or suspended within the prior five years.

The Department has a practice to make its Order of Summary Denial or Order of Summary Revocation effective immediately or after a short delay, limiting the amount of time a broker or applicant has to weigh their legal options.  There are three options in reaction to such an Order: 1) filing a petition for reconsideration, which can usually be filed even after the effective date of the order, 2) bringing a petition for writ of administrative mandamus in Superior Court usually within 30 days of the effective date of the Order, or 3) reapplying for a denied or lost insurance producer’s license at a future date. 

The difficulty with this statute is that once someone has let an Order of Summary Denial or Order of Summary Revocation become final, that order in and of itself is cause for future orders of summary denial in response to attempts to get the license back, invoking the previously mentioned five year bar from the date of the latest Order of Summary Denial.  The cycle of applications and responsive Summary Denial orders can be broken by counsel, but this usually requires a prepared showing of rehabilitation either with the application disclosure, or in seeking reconsideration.

Our firm has demonstrated success in securing licensing success even in the face of felony convictions, other license revocations, and long strings of license denials.  We can break the cycle with proper planning and timely advocacy.