Florida Statute 501.208 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXXIII
REGULATION OF TRADE, COMMERCE, INVESTMENTS, AND SOLICITATIONS

Chapter 501
CONSUMER PROTECTION

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501.208 Cease and desist orders; procedures.—

(1) Whenever the Department of Legal Affairs has reason to believe that a person has been, or is, violating this part, and if it appears to the department that a cease and desist order against such violation would be in the interest of the public, it shall issue and serve upon such person a complaint and order stating its charges in that respect and containing a notice of a hearing upon a day and at the place therein fixed at least 30 days after the service of said complaint. Said hearing shall be held in conformity with the provisions of chapter 120.

(2) The department may modify or set aside its order at any time by rehearing upon its own motion when such rehearing is in the interest of the public welfare.

(3) Judicial review of orders of the department shall be in accordance with the provisions of s. 120.68 and shall take precedence over other civil cases pending and shall be expedited in every way.

(4) An order of the department to cease and desist shall not become effective until 10 days after all administrative action has been concluded or, if appeal is made to the district court of appeal and bond is posted, until a final order has been entered by that court.

(5) No cease and desist order shall act as a limitation upon any other action or remedy available to a person aggrieved by a violation of this act.

(6) When a court remands an order of the department for rehearing, such rehearing shall be held within 45 days after the remand.

(7) Any person who violates a cease and desist order of the department after it has become final and while such order is in effect shall forfeit and pay to the state a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 for each violation which shall accrue to the state and may be recovered in a civil action brought by the state. Each separate violation of such an order shall be a separate offense, except that in the case of a violation through continuing failure or neglect to obey a final order of the department, each day of continuance of such failure or neglect shall be deemed a separate offense.

History.—s. 1, ch. 73-124; s. 22, ch. 78-95; s. 4, ch. 79-386.

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Amendments to 501.208

Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 501.208

Total Results: 7 | Sort by: Relevance | Newest First

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SDS Autos, Inc. v. Chrzanowski, 976 So. 2d 600 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007).

Cited 8 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2007 WL 4145222

...mages and injunctive relief to prohibit such practices. See §§ 501.207 and 501.203(2), Fla. Stat. (2005). In addition, the Department of Legal Affairs has the authority to issue a cease and desist order to prevent future violations of the act. See § 501.208, Fla....

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3B TV, INC. v. State, Off. of Atty. Gen., 794 So. 2d 744 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001).

Cited 5 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2001 WL 1110559

...s an additional, separate and distinct violation."); section 440.107(2), Florida Statutes (employer not compliant with chapter subject to a fine "in the amount of $100 per day for each day the employer was not in compliance...."). [1] Significantly, section 501.208(7) of DUTPA, which governs violations of Department of Legal Affairs cease and desist orders, expressly provides that each day of a continuing violation of such an order can be separately penalized....

...er "a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each such violation." There is no provision in section 501.2075 for separate penalties for multiple days of a continuing offense. Given the express statutory authorization for per diem penalties under section 501.208, we conclude that the absence of similar language in section 501.2075 clearly indicates that the Legislature did not intend to authorize the imposition of daily penalties for continuing conduct under section 501.2075....

...REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. ALLEN, C.J., and WOLF, J., concur. NOTES [1] Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission Act specifies that each day of a violation of an FTC order constitutes a separate offense. See 15 U.S.C. § 45(1). [2] Section 501.208(7), Florida Statutes (1997), provides, in pertinent part: Any person who violates a cease and desist order of the department ......

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Storer Commc'ns, Inc. v. State, Dept. of Legal Affairs, 591 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991).

Cited 5 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1991 WL 138900

...by section 501.204. I believe appellants correctly rely on Lavers v. State, 326 So.2d 80 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 336 So.2d 1184 (Fla. 1976). The First DCA determined that the Department was not entitled to a cease and desist order pursuant to section 501.208 *242 because the Department had not promulgated any rules which would tend to notify the appellants that their conduct was proscribed by section 501.204....

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Quick Cash v. State, Dept. of Agric., 605 So. 2d 898 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992).

Cited 1 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1992 WL 206432

...Legal Affairs, i.e., the Attorney General, and with any relevant state attorney. Such coordination is not alleged in these complaints. Presumably, this subsection would allow the Division to seek a cease and desist order in an appropriate case under section 501.208, Florida Statutes (1991)....

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George Tershakovec v. Ford Motor Co., Inc. (11th Cir. 2023).

Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

Argued: Dec 16, 2022

...Florida’s Department of Legal Affairs, like the FTC, has power to issue cease and desist orders; a defendant business has the right (1) to respond to the complaint at a hearing and (2) to judicial review of the ultimate agency decision. Id. §§ 501.208(1), 501.208(3) (citing Fla. Stat. § 120.68). After a cease and desist order becomes final, the Department of Legal Affairs may pursue civil pen- alties for violations.8 Id. § 501.208(7)....

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Lavers v. State, Dep't of Legal Affairs, 326 So. 2d 80 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1976).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1976 Fla. App. LEXIS 14263

...t to the Department of Legal Affairs. Petitioners Lavers and Singley seek review of an order of a hearing officer of the Department of Legal Affairs which the Attorney General, head of that Department, modified on review pursuant to §§ 501.207 and 501.208, F.S.1973....

...inds that probable cause exists for the Department to sue Lavers and Singley for money damages “on behalf of one or more of the consumers” adversely affected by the practices complained of. The petition for review is before us in accordance with § 501.208(3), F.S.1973, which invokes the Administrative Procedure Act, § 120.68, F....

...consumers are deceived into believing that the lot in question is not posted and that lack of adequate notice to the consumers should not subject them to exorbitant towing fees.” The Department served notice that its purpose was to order Lavers and Singley to cease and desist, in accordance with § 501.208, and to determine that there is probable cause for the Department to maintain an action on behalf of one or more consumers for their actual damages, as contemplated by § 501.207, F.S.1973....

...nce on Murrell is before us. Because Lavers and Singley were already restrained by court order from engaging in conduct like that in Murrell the Department’s counsel acknowledged before the hearing officer that a cease and desist order pursuant to § 501.208 would be entirely superfluous....

...an act or practice. She found, nevertheless, that probable cause exists for the maintenance by the Department of an action for damages on behalf of “one or more” unnamed persons. The Attorney General, on review of the hearing officer’s order [§ 501.208(1), F.S....

...which the injunction was issued, and by adding a cease and desist order in terms copied verbatim from the order of *83 the circuit court. The effect of the cease and desist order is to trigger civil penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation. Sec. 501.208(8), F.S.1973....

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Ago (Fla. Att'y Gen. 1976).

Published | Florida Attorney General Reports

...nant eviction and lease of real property. See also Commonwealth v. Monumental Properties, Inc., 329 A.2d 812 , 819 (Pa. 1974), where the Pennsylvania Supreme Court applied its Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act to the leasing of real property. Section 501.208 , F....

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