California Business and Professions Code 6085.5 – There are three kinds of pleas to the allegations of a notice of …
There are three kinds of pleas to the allegations of a notice of disciplinary charges or other pleading which initiates a disciplinary proceeding against a licensee:
(a) Admission of culpability.
Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 6085.5
- Licensee: means any person authorized by a license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.8
- Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
- Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
(b) Denial of culpability.
(c) Nolo contendere, subject to the approval of the State Bar Court. The court shall ascertain whether the licensee completely understands that a plea of nolo contendere shall be considered the same as an admission of culpability and that, upon a plea of nolo contendere, the court shall find the licensee culpable. The legal effect of such a plea shall be the same as that of an admission of culpability for all purposes, except that the plea and any admissions required by the court during any inquiry it makes as to the voluntariness of, or the factual basis for, the pleas, may not be used against the licensee as an admission in any civil suit based upon or growing out of the act upon which the disciplinary proceeding is based.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 659, Sec. 66. (AB 3249) Effective January 1, 2019.)