ALJDEC - Licensing

2024A-10086-NPC-ROC · Registrar of Contractors · 2025-01-13

IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

R Blume Underground Inc.,

COMPLAINANT

v.

Pinnacle Builders LLC

License No. ROC 312965,

RESPONDENT

No. 2024A-10086-NPC-ROC

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE DECISION

HEARING: December 24, 2024 at 9:00am

APPEARANCES: Ted Brock, Chief Financial Officer, and Lee Fuggitt, Vice President of Operations, on behalf of Complainant; Respondent did not appear.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Nicole Robinson

EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE: Registrar of Contractors Notice of Hearing Packet (Packet)

_____________________________________________________________________

FINDINGS OF FACT

Pinnacle Builders, LLC (Respondent) is the holder of License No. ROC 312965 issued by the Registrar of Contractors (Registrar).

On or about March 22, 2024, Respondent entered into a Subcontractor Agreement with R Blume Underground, Inc. (Complainant) for work on a utility installation infrastructure project.

On or about September 3, 2024, R Blume Underground, Inc. (Complainant) filed a Complaint against Respondent with the Registrar alleging that Respondent had failed to pay Complainant the sum of $18,810.54 for a utility installation infrastructure project.

The parties were unable to resolve their differences, and Complainant requested an administrative hearing. The Registrar then issued a Citation on October 18, 2024 for Alleged Violation of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(10).

Ted Brock and Lee Fuggitt both testified on behalf of the Complainant that the total due to R Blume Underground, Inc. was $18,810.54.

Respondent submitted an answer to the Citation in which he alleged, “I am working through things with owners of the properties in which the services were provided by R Blume to resolve balance owed. I have been told they will have funds to pay within 45 days. This has continually been pushed off on me and unfortunately I do not have the cash flow to resolve on my own. I will work through this and hope to resolve within the 45 days.”

The Registrar referred the matter to the Office of Administrative Hearings, an independent state agency, for an evidentiary hearing.

The Registrar issued a Notice of Hearing, setting a hearing at 9:00am on December 24, 2024. The Registrar mailed copied of the Notice of Hearing to Respondent at its address and email address of record.

A December 2, 2024 order from the Office of Administrative Hearings advised the parties of how to connect to the hearing via Google Meet. The hearing was held via Google Meet on December 24, 2024.

Respondent did not request that the hearing be continued. Although the start of the hearing was delayed 15 minutes, Respondent did not appear through an authorized member, employee, or attorney. Consequently, Respondent did not present any evidence to defend its license.

Respondent did not assert that it lacked the capacity to pay the amount Complainant asserted was due. In fact, in Respondent’s Answer to the Citation by email on September 13, 2024, Respondent acknowledged that it would “hope to resolve within the 45 days.”

Administrative notice is taken of Respondent’s prior license record and such prior license record reflects that Respondent’s License No. ROC 312965 was first issued on April 17, 2017. The license was suspended on December 16, 2024, for lack of bond. Such prior license record also reflects that there were six open complaints, six previously resolved/settled complaints, and four prior complaints resulting in discipline against Respondent’s license.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The burden of proof at an administrative hearing falls to the party asserting a claim, right, or entitlement and the standard of proof on all issues in these matters is by a preponderance of the evidence.

A preponderance of the evidence is “such proof as convinces the trier of fact that the contention is more probably true than not.”

Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(10) includes among the grounds for suspension, revocation, or other disciplinary action against a contractor’s license,

[f]ailure by a licensee or agent or official of a licensee to pay monies in excess of $750 when due for materials or services rendered in connection with the licensee's operations as a contractor unless the licensee proves that the licensee lacks the capacity to pay and has not received sufficient monies as payment for the particular construction work project or operation for which the services or materials were rendered or purchased.

In this case, the evidence established that Respondent owed a total of $18,810.54 for a utility installation infrastructure project.

Therefore, Complainant established that Respondent violated Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(10) by failing to pay Complainant $18,810.54 for services or materials rendered in connection with Respondent’s contracting business.

Based upon Respondent’s violation of the provisions of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(10), grounds exist to impose discipline against Respondent’s license

RECOMMENDed order

Based on the foregoing, it is recommended that the Registrar suspend Respondent’s License No. ROC 312965 issued by the Registrar until it has provided to the Registrar, and the Registrar has accepted, documents that establish that it has paid Complainant $18,810.54 in certified funds.

It is further recommended that when and if the Registrar receives and accepts Respondent’s evidence that it has paid Complainant $18,810.54 in certified funds, the Registrar may close the Complaint in Case No. 2024-10086.

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 41-1092.08(I), the licensee may accept the Administrative Law Judge Decision by advising the Office of Administrative Hearings in writing not more than ten (10) days after receiving the decision. If the licensee accepts the Administrative Law Judge Decision, the decision shall be certified as the final decision by the Office of Administrative Hearings.

In the event of certification of the Administrative Law Judge Decision by the Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings, the effective date of the Order will be forty (40) days from the date of that certification.

Done this day, January 13, 2025.

/s/ Nicole Robinson

Administrative Law Judge

Transmitted by either mail, e-mail, or facsimile to:

Tom Cole, Director

Registrar of Contractors

R Blume Underground Inc.

[email redacted]

Pinnacle Builders LLC

[email redacted]

By: OAH Staff