Registered Nurse Receives a Citation and Fine From BRN For a DUI Conviction with a .13% BAC

If this is the first article that you’ve come across regarding a Citation and Fine for a DUI conviction from the CA Board of Registered Nursing, you may not understand the magnitude of this article. However, if you’ve read anything else I’ve ever written on the subject of RN’s with DUIs, you will immediately understand while this simple act is the topic of an entire blog post. In short- THIS NEVER HAPPENS and we are SUPER EXCITED ABOUT IT!!!!

Over the last few years the California BRN has been imposing ever harsher penalties for DUI convictions for licensed Registered Nurses. A few years ago, our RN license attorneys were able to help an RN disclose a DUI to the BRN, with the hopes that the Cite and Fine Analyst would get a hold of it before the enforcement division. 2 years ago or so, the Cite and Fine Analyst told us that disclosures were unnecessary and the RN was only obligated to disclose upon renewal of the license. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to roll the dice and hope that an Accusation would not be filed for the DUI, but 99% of the time, that is what happened. Then we were forced to go into a lengthy and sometimes expensive legal battle with the Board to keep the nurse’s license.

Just VERY recently, we have been noticing that very few of our DUI clients are being given citations and fines without us having to do much of anything other than represent them in their criminal proceeding with the DUI itself and disclose the conviction to the BRN in a timely manner. Today we got a call from one of our clients whom we had represented for his DUI and he had been given a citation and fine by the BRN for the DUI. It did not have to go the enforcement division. A formal accusation was never filed. He will be able to circumvent the entire nasty process that so many nurses find themselves enmeshed within.

The difference between a citation and fine and probation for a DUI is huge:

There is a catch to all of this, of course because who in their right mind would not pay the same amount in attorney’s fees for an obviously far better outcome? The catch is that we need to handle the DUI from the beginning. The reason that this client was able to get a citation and fine in lieu of an accusation and subsequent probation is because the RN Guardian panel attorneys represented the client in his criminal proceeding for the DUI and took the appropriate measures to notify the Board in a timely manner.

Most clients call us after they have already hired a DUI lawyer. They may have chosen someone from the neighborhood freeway billboard. They may have chosen the attorney their bail-bondsmen recommended. Or they may have chosen the first Google result or the cheapest lawyer. While the choice of DUI attorneys mattered a little in the past, the choice of a DUI lawyer who knows the BRN is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL NOW. We cannot get the same result if we do not represent the client from the beginning.

Clients who are retaining us after they have been convicted of a DUI, even if they have been represented by a DUI lawyer, are having Accusations filed against their licenses calling for suspension or revocation of the license. For example, if you click on a few names in the list of disciplinary actions for September 2014, chances are you’ll come across one for a DUI conviction. Nurses With a DUI . These nurses will have to hire an attorney like us to negotiate the terms of their probation and in most cases, that is the best they will be able to hope for.

If you are an RN researching what will happen to your RN license if you’ve been recently arrested for a DUI, PLEASE consider calling us first to discuss representation at this stage. While we cannot guarantee the same result if we handle your criminal DUI matter, this new case is proof that with RN Guardian panel attorneys handling the DUI, there is a chance that you will be given a citation and fine instead of an accusation.