Florida Statutes 401.414 – Complaint investigation procedures
Current as of: 2024 | Check for updates
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 401.414
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Department: means the Department of Health. See Florida Statutes 401.23
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(1) The department shall cause to be investigated any complaint that is filed before it if the complaint is in writing, signed by the complainant, and legally sufficient. A complaint is legally sufficient if it contains ultimate facts that show that a violation of this part, or of any rule adopted by the department, has occurred. The department may investigate or continue to investigate, and may take appropriate final action on, a complaint even though the original complainant withdraws his or her complaint or otherwise indicates a desire not to cause it to be investigated to completion. When an investigation of any person is undertaken, the department shall notify that person of the investigation and inform him or her of the substance of any complaint filed against him or her. The department may conduct an investigation without notifying any person if the act under investigation is a crime.
(2) The department shall expeditiously investigate each complaint. When its investigation is complete, the department shall prepare an investigative report. The report must contain the investigative findings and the recommendations of the department concerning the existence of probable cause.
(3) The complaint and all information obtained in the investigation by the department are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) until 10 days after probable cause has been found to exist by the department, or until the person who is the subject of the investigation waives confidentiality, whichever occurs first. This subsection does not prohibit the department from providing such information to any law enforcement agency or any other regulatory agency.