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Horvitz & Levy successfully defended a judgment denying a plaintiff’s petition for a writ of mandate to vacate a one-year suspension of his alcohol and drug counselor certification.

The California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP) is a private, nonprofit organization that certifies individuals as alcohol and other drug counselors.  CCAPP certified plaintiff Alistair Fyfe as a counselor but later suspended his certification based on findings that he had engaged in unethical conduct.  Fyfe filed a petition for writ of mandate in the trial court arguing that CCAPP had violated his common law right to a fair procedure.  The trial court denied the petition, finding that CCAPP afforded Fyfe a fair procedure and that the decision and penalty CCAPP imposed were substantively rational.  Fyfe appealed and CCAP retained Horvitz & Levy to defend the decision on appeal.

Horvitz & Levy persuaded the Court of Appeal to affirm the judgment.  The court followed Horvitz & Levy’s arguments and held that Fyfe received adequate notice of the allegations against him, that he had an opportunity to defend against those allegations, and that he had not established prejudice requiring reversal.