The bully in the industry – DFI plays by its own rules

Recently I negotiated a settlement with DFI.  Although the agreement did not state it, DFI determined that the client had to surrender his license before the settlement was officially entered.  There are obvious reasons why such a demand makes no sense, first being that if the Director of DFI for some reason refused to sign the settlement, then the respondent will have already surrendered his license.  We agreed because DFI threatened to “administratively surrender” the license if we did not. When I wrote and said that the respondent would surrender “shortly,” the DFI demanded that it be done that same day or they would “administratively surrender” the license first thing the next morning.  In fact, DFI insisted it be done within five minutes. Such an action was not contemplated in the settlement at all, let alone within such a short time frame. DFI’s response was, “Well, Seth, perhaps we simply have a difference of opinion about what the term “shortly” means.”  I guess we also have differences regarding what “due process” means as well.