Can a gaming license officer suspend me from my license over a dismissed juvenile case?

Licensing law is a specialty within the field of administrative law. The most common situation that licensing lawyers see is the denial of an application for State license on grounds that the applicant was untruthful in the application by failing to disclose an old criminal case. Typically, when the State's investigation turns up an old case that is not listed on the application for license, the State then automatically denies the license application for two reasons: the old case and the new failure to disclose. The alleged failure to disclose will almost always be viewed more seriously by the State than the old criminal case. You can read more on this issue here: http://licenseadvocateslawgroup.blogspot.com/2010/08/california-license-applicants-avoiding.html All that said, your situation should be relatively easy to unwind. First, if you have received a formal denial of your license application, you must return the form "Notice of Defense" that was included in the materials sent with your notice of the denial. There is a very short window of time for submitting this form, so do that immediately, by certified or registered mail. That will preserve your right to contest the denial of your license application. The form is not difficult to complete and you do not need an attorney in order to complete it correctly. Turning to the merits of your matter, either you were or your weren't convicted. The State has the burden to demonstrate by certified court documents the fact of a previous conviction. Without proof of a conviction, both grounds for denying your licensing application will collapse. The difficulty is going to be the process by which you resolve this situation. It can be very difficult to make contact with the appropriate level of licensing agency staff -- and you need to be making your case to a staff person who has the authority and power to lift your case from those subject to "automatic" agency action. An experienced local licensing attorney can probably cut through this matter relatively quickly and cost-effectively. Or, you can obtain a certified copy of the court records of your old case yourself and mail copies to the highest level of staff person that you can identify in your licensing agency. Neither method will be as quick as you would like. California's fiscal crisis has caused substantial delays in many areas of government service, including licensing activities, and matters that used to take a month or two can now take eight months or more. The bottom line is that if you were not convicted, that fact should eventually be plain and irrefutable and there will remain no factual ground on which the licensing agency can base a denial of your licensing application. Good luck to you.