If your licensing agency serves you with an Accusation, you must submit a Notice of Defense in order to secure your rights to defend yourself. Usually you will have only 15 days from the date on which the Accusation was sent to you to file the Notice of Defense. It is essential that you read the documentation accompanying the Accusation carefully, and follow the instructions provided. Alternatively, you should immediately consult an attorney.
The Notice of Defense Protects Your Right to a Hearing
Under California Government Code section 11505(a), the Accusation package must warn the licensee that a Notice of Defense must be filed within 15 days after service. That deadline is not a formality. The statute states that failing to file the Notice of Defense will constitute a waiver of the respondent’s right to a hearing. If no timely response is filed, the agency may seek a default decision under Government Code section 11520.
This is why the first step after receiving an Accusation is to confirm the service date, read the notice instructions, and calendar the response deadline immediately. A licensed professional should not wait to decide whether the allegations are serious enough to answer. The Notice of Defense is what preserves the opportunity to contest the Accusation before the board or agency moves forward without the licensee’s participation.
Service by Mail and the Address Trap
Licensing boards do not always have to serve an Accusation by personal service or certified mail. Business and Professions Code section 124 allows certain administrative pleadings to be served by regular mail to the licensee’s last known address of record. If the board uses the address it has on file, the deadline may begin to run even if the licensee does not actually open the packet right away.
That rule connects directly to Business and Professions Code section 136(a), which requires a license holder to notify the licensing board of a change in mailing address within 30 days. When a licensee moves, misses mail, or assumes the board will locate a new address on its own, the case can get dangerous quickly. The state may treat service to the old address as legally effective, and the licensee may lose time before learning that the Accusation was filed.
What a Notice of Defense Can Raise
A Notice of Defense does more than say that the licensee wants a hearing. Government Code section 11506(a) sets out several tactical responses that may be included. The respondent may object to the Accusation, admit or deny the allegations, and present new matter by way of defense.
If the Accusation is vague, incomplete, or so uncertain that the licensee cannot identify the transaction or prepare a defense, Government Code section 11506(a)(3) allows an objection to the form of the Accusation. That objection must be handled carefully because Government Code section 11506(c) states that objections to the form of the Accusation are deemed waived if they are not raised under the statute.
The statute also permits a respondent to present new matter by way of defense under Government Code section 11506(a)(5). In some cases, Government Code section 11506(a)(6) may also allow an objection that complying with the board’s regulation would cause a material violation of another department’s regulation. These are not boilerplate choices. They are part of how the defense is framed at the start of the administrative case.
Discovery After the Notice of Defense Is Filed
Once a timely Notice of Defense is filed, discovery becomes one of the most important tools in the case. Government Code section 11507.6 gives the respondent a procedure to request key materials from the agency. Depending on the case, that may include witness information, witness statements, writings the agency intends to offer into evidence, and investigative reports, subject to privilege and confidentiality limits.
Those materials can show what the board believes happened, which witnesses the agency plans to rely on, and what documents may be used at hearing. A professional license defense attorney can use that information to evaluate the Accusation, prepare objections, develop evidence, and decide whether settlement discussions or a contested hearing strategy makes sense.
Respond Before the Deadline Passes
The Notice of Defense is often where a professional license case is won, narrowed, or lost before the hearing process really begins. The 15-day deadline, the address-of-record rules, the waiver provisions, and the discovery statutes all affect the defense. If a licensing board has served you with an Accusation, speak with counsel quickly so your rights are preserved before the response window closes.
If the board is also seeking an interim suspension while the case is pending, see our page on defending against a request for the interim suspension of your license.
