This is an issue of major concern for all persons who possess a license issued by the State of Tennessee. What statute of limitations applies to a disciplinary proceeding by the state?
The Answer, according to the Tennessee Attorney General's office in Opinion 11-43, is that no statute of limitations applies. Therefore, a doctor, lawyer, barber or massage therapist may lose his or her license for something that occurred five years ago, ten years ago or even 40 years ago. And, because the State's position is that the doctrine of laches does not apply to the sovereign, the fact that witnesses have disappeared or other evidence is not relevant.
This is not a hypothetical question as evidenced by the activities of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance in a recent case. The Department initiated disciplinary proceedings against a person who held an insurance producer's license in the last days of the prior administration for an act that occurred in 2001.
In 2001, the person entered into a consent order with the Insurance Commissioner of another state admitting violation of a regulation in that state. The producer reported the consent order in his annual report to the State of Tennessee in 2002. In January of 2011, the Department initiated licensure revocation proceedings against this person based upon entry of this consent order -- eleven years after the fact. Even scarier -- the act upon which the violation was predicated did not violate Tennessee law. It was a true "technical" violation.
This opinion emphasizes that the State has no boundaries of time if it wishes to pursue a licensure proceeding. As those proceedings are administrative and not judicial, no statute of limitations applies.
See Attorney General Opinion No. 11-43.
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