Florida Statute 120.57: Formal and Informal Hearings, Appeals

Florida Statute 120.57 gives you the right to challenge a state agency’s decision through an administrative hearing when that decision affects your substantial interests, such as a professional license, permit, government job, or property right. It creates two tracks: a formal hearing before an independent Administrative Law Judge when material facts are in dispute, and an informal hearing inside the agency when only the legal or policy conclusions are contested. To use either track, you generally must file a petition within 21 days of receiving the agency’s written notice, or you waive the hearing entirely.

When the Statute Gives You a Hearing

You have a right to a hearing under Section 120.57 only when the agency’s action affects a legally recognized stake, meaning a “substantial interest.” The most common triggers are agency proposals to deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew a license or permit. If the action doesn’t touch a recognized legal interest, the statute doesn’t apply and this hearing right doesn’t exist for you.

Florida Statute 120.569 sorts the case into one of two paths. If the proceeding involves a disputed issue of material fact, Section 120.57(1) applies and you get a formal hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. If no material facts are in dispute, Section 120.57(2) applies and the matter is handled through an informal proceeding, usually within the agency itself. If a factual dispute surfaces during an informal proceeding, the informal process stops and a formal hearing begins, unless all parties agree to waive that right.¹

The 21-Day Deadline and What Your Petition Must Say

Unless a specific law sets a different deadline, you have 21 days from the date you receive written notice of the agency’s decision to file a petition for hearing. Miss that window and you waive the right to a hearing entirely.² Some agency notices specify a shorter period, so read the notice carefully rather than assuming you have the full three weeks.

The petition goes to the agency that issued the notice, not directly to the Division of Administrative Hearings. Under the Florida Administrative Code, it must include:

Your name, address, phone number, and email, plus the agency’s name and file number if you know it.
When and how you received the agency’s decision.
An explanation of how the agency’s action affects your substantial interests.
A statement of all disputed issues of material fact. If you believe there are none, the petition must say so explicitly.
A concise statement of the specific facts you contend justify reversing or modifying the proposed action.
The specific statutes or rules you believe require a different outcome, with an explanation of how the facts relate to those provisions.
A precise statement of what action you want the agency to take.

A petition that fails to substantially comply with these requirements will be dismissed, though the agency must give you at least one chance to fix the defects by amendment, unless the problem is unfixable on its face.¹ Equitable tolling may apply if your late filing resulted from circumstances beyond your control, but that is a defense you would need to raise, not an automatic extension.³

What a Formal Hearing Looks Like

When your petition raises disputed issues of material fact, the agency must forward the case to the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) within 15 days for assignment to an Administrative Law Judge.¹ The ALJ is an independent decision-maker who does not work for the agency whose action you are challenging. That separation is one of the statute’s most important protections.

The formal hearing resembles a bench trial. Both sides engage in discovery beforehand, including depositions and document requests. At the hearing itself, each party presents evidence, calls witnesses, and cross-examines the other side’s witnesses. The rules of evidence are somewhat more relaxed than in a courtroom, but the proceeding is structured and adversarial.⁴

The ALJ’s findings of fact must be based on a preponderance of the evidence, with one significant exception: in penal or licensure disciplinary proceedings, a different standard may apply as provided by the governing statute. Findings must rest exclusively on evidence in the record and matters the ALJ officially recognizes.⁵ In licensure cases, the agency typically carries a heavier burden, such as clear and convincing evidence, rather than the ordinary preponderance standard.

From Recommended Order to Final Agency Action

After the formal hearing, the ALJ issues a Recommended Order containing findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommended disposition. Each party then has 15 days to file written exceptions identifying specific errors by page or paragraph number, with citations to the record. The agency’s final order must explicitly rule on every properly filed exception.⁵

The agency can adopt the Recommended Order as its final order, but its power to change it is limited. It can reject or modify the ALJ’s conclusions of law, but only on matters within its substantive jurisdiction, only after stating its reasons with particularity, and only if it finds its substituted conclusion is “as or more reasonable” than the ALJ’s. The agency cannot reject findings of fact unless it reviews the entire record and determines, with specific explanation, that the findings lack support from competent substantial evidence or that the proceedings failed to comply with essential requirements of law. It cannot use disagreement with a legal conclusion as a backdoor to overrule a factual finding.⁵

The agency can accept, reduce, or increase the recommended penalty, but any change requires review of the complete record and a particularized explanation citing the record. Agencies that simply disagree with the ALJ’s recommendation without doing that work often see their final orders overturned on appeal.

The Informal Hearing Track

When no material facts are in dispute and the disagreement is purely about what the law requires or how policy applies, the case proceeds under Section 120.57(2). These hearings happen within the agency rather than at DOAH, and no independent ALJ presides.

The agency must give you reasonable notice of its action and the factual, legal, and policy reasons behind it. You then have the opportunity to present written or oral evidence opposing the action, or to submit a written statement challenging the agency’s reasoning. If the agency overrules your objections, it must provide a written explanation within seven days.⁵

The tradeoff is real. Informal proceedings are faster and cheaper, but you are making your case to the same agency that took the action you disagree with. There is no neutral ALJ evaluating the evidence. If facts actually are in dispute, request a formal hearing from the start; converting mid-stream forces the informal process to stop so a new formal proceeding can begin.¹

Challenging an Unadopted Rule

Neither an agency nor an ALJ may base a decision affecting your substantial interests on a rule that was never formally adopted through the rulemaking process, or on a rule that constitutes an invalid exercise of the agency’s delegated authority.⁵ If an agency relies on an internal policy, memo, or practice that was never adopted as a formal rule, you can raise that as a defense in your petition.

Any agency action based on an unadopted rule is subject to fresh review by the ALJ with no presumption of validity. The agency must then demonstrate that the unadopted rule falls within its delegated authority, doesn’t contradict the law it implements, isn’t vague or arbitrary, and doesn’t impose excessive regulatory costs. A narrow exception exists when a statute recently directed the agency to adopt rules and the agency has begun the rulemaking process in good faith but hasn’t had time to finish; even then, the ALJ must find that formal rulemaking wasn’t feasible or practicable. This protection applies equally in informal proceedings under Section 120.57(2).

Mediation as an Alternative

Every notice of agency action affecting substantial interests must state whether mediation is available for that type of action. Choosing mediation does not forfeit your right to a hearing. If the agency and all parties agree in writing to mediate within 10 days after the deadline for electing an administrative remedy, the filing deadlines under Sections 120.569 and 120.57 are paused while mediation proceeds.⁶

Mediation must wrap up within 60 days unless the parties agree otherwise. A settlement is entered as a final order incorporating the agreement. If mediation fails, the agency notifies all parties in writing and the hearing process resumes. Mediation tends to work best when the dispute is more practical than legal, such as disagreements over conditions attached to a permit rather than whether a permit should exist at all.

When Attorney’s Fees Can Shift

Florida Statute 120.595 sets an intentionally high bar for fee-shifting in a formal hearing under Section 120.57(1). The ALJ may award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to the prevailing party only if the losing side participated in the proceeding for an “improper purpose,” which the statute defines as participating primarily to harass, cause unnecessary delay, pursue a frivolous claim, or needlessly drive up costs.⁷ Losing on the merits is not enough.

The standard is different in rule challenges. If an ALJ or court strikes down a proposed or existing agency rule, the agency pays reasonable fees and costs unless it demonstrates its position was substantially justified or special circumstances make an award unjust. Rule-challenge fee awards are capped at $15,000.

Appealing the Final Order

Once the agency issues its final order, you can seek judicial review by filing a notice of appeal with the appropriate Florida District Court of Appeal within 30 days of the order’s rendition. The notice goes to the clerk of the agency or lower tribunal with a copy to the court, along with any required filing fees. Jurisdiction lies in the appellate district where the agency maintains its headquarters or where you reside.⁸

The appellate court does not retry the case. Its review is confined to the record that was before the agency. The court will set aside or remand if it finds factual findings lack support from competent, substantial evidence in the record; that a material procedural error may have impaired the fairness of the proceedings; that the agency misinterpreted the law; or that the agency exercised discretion outside its delegated authority or inconsistently with its own rules or prior practice. The court will not substitute its own judgment for the agency’s on questions of evidentiary weight or discretion.⁸

The 30-day deadline is strict. A preliminary or intermediate agency order can be appealed immediately only if waiting for the final order would leave you without an adequate remedy. Otherwise, wait for the final order and file within 30 days, or the right to judicial review is gone.⁹

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 120.569 – Decisions Which Affect Substantial Interests
2
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Florida Administrative Code 28-106.111 – Point of Entry into Proceedings
3
Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Florida Administrative Code 28-106.201 – Initiation of Proceedings
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 120.57 – Additional Procedures for Particular Cases
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 120.57 – Additional Procedures for Particular Cases
6
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 120.573 – Mediation of Disputes
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 120.595 – Attorney’s Fees
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 120.68 – Judicial Review
9
Florida Courts. Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure – Rule 9.190