ALJDEC - Licensing
2025A-02691-CHC-ROC · Registrar of Contractors · 2025-10-06
IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
Derek Barton,
COMPLAINANT,
v.
First Opinion HVAC, LLC,
License No. ROC 351330,
RESPONDENT.
No. 2025A-02691-CHC-ROC
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE DECISION
HEARING: August 19, 2025 at 1:00pm and September 29, 2025 at 1:00pm
APPEARANCES: Complainant Derek Barton appeared on his own behalf. No one appeared on behalf of Respondent or the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Nicole Robinson
EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE: Arizona Registrar of Contractors Notice of Hearing packet (“Packet”).
FINDINGS OF FACT
First Opinion HVAC, LLC (“Respondent”) is the holder of License No. ROC 351330 issued by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (“Registrar”).
On or about May 17, 2024, Derek Barton (“Complainant”) entered into a contract with NewACunit.com and paid them $5,479.59 for a new 3.5 Ton Goodman manufactured Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (“HVAC”) system.
On May 28, 2024, Complainant entered into a contract with Respondent to install the NewACunit.com HVAC unit for a total amount of $1,500.00 at his residential home located in Peoria, Arizona. The Disclosure for the purchase included in relevant part:
Your Contractor will make verbal contact with you within 24 hours of you placing your order, to schedule your Jobsite inspection. This is to ensure proper equipment purchase.
For the Estimated Price, the Contractor will perform the following services:
Jobsite inspection to determine that proper equipment was purchased.
Installation of all new equipment purchased.
Complete a test of the system after installation, to make sure everything is functioning properly and ensure a clean jobsite upon completion.
You are expected to pay the full installation price upon completion of your installation.
If you have any problems with the equipment after installation, the Contractor provides a 1 year labor/workmanship warranty and will service the manufacturer warranty.
If you have any problems working with or complaints about the Contractor, please call NewACunit.com.
On or about March 17, 2025, the Registrar received a Complaint against Respondent from Complainant alleging poor work with respect to the project because the HVAC compressor was no longer functional.
The Registrar assigned the complaint to Investigator Mike Wiskow. A jobsite inspection was scheduled on April 7, 2025, with Complainant present. On April 7, 2025, the same day, Investigator Wiskow issued a Written Directive to Respondent that provided as follows:
After investigation, the Registrar determined that you failed to meet the requirements of A.R.S. § 32-1154(A), and now issues this Directive requiring you to take appropriate corrective action. Failure to comply with this Directive constitutes a violation of A.R.S. § 32-1154(A)(22) and may result in the issuance of a citation, discipline of your license, and a civil penalty pursuant to A.R.S. § 32-1154(E) of up to $500.00. You must notify the Registrar’s assigned Investigator of your compliance with this Directive prior to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
. . . .
DIRECTIVE REQUIREMENTS
You are directed to remedy the following violations by the appropriate means:
Complaint Item: AC compressor is no longer functional within a year from installation.
Investigator’s Observation: Confirmed. The Registrar has determined that the respondent is responsible for the unit for one year as stated in the contract from Newacunit. The terms on the contract from Newacunit is part of the transaction that the complainant entered into with the respondent. Contractor should repair A/C unit to to fully functional state by appropriate means.
Governing Rule: Violation of any rule adopted by the Registrar; Namely A.A.C. R4-9-108(a): A contractor shall perform all work in a professional and workmanlike manner. A.R.S. § 32-1154(A)(3) - R4-9-108(A) Workmanship
All errors in original.
After the deadline in the directive expired, Investigator Wiskow was notified that no corrective work had been performed.
On April 25, 2025, the Registrar issued a Citation against Respondent, charging possible violations of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(3), namely Ariz. Admin. Code R4-9-108(A) and Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(22).
The Registrar referred the above-aforementioned 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 1:00pm on August 19, 2025. The Registrar mailed copies of the Notice of Hearing to Respondent at its address and email address of record.
On July 10, 2025, a Google Meet Order from the Office of Administrative Hearings (“OAH”) advised the parties on how to connect to the hearing via Google Meet. The hearing was held via Google Meet on August 19, 2025.
Respondent failed to appear at the hearing by 1:15pm and consequently, the matter was convened and Complainant testimony was taken.
On August 20, 2025, Thomas Wyrick on behalf of Respondent, reached out to OAH and asked for a rehearing because he “gotten the dates mixed up.”
The matter was scheduled for a further hearing on September 29, 2025 at 1:00pm. The Google Meet Order was mailed out to both parties by email on August 20, 2025.
Respondent failed to appear at the hearing by 1:15pm on September 29, 2025. As such, this decision was based on the testimony from the August 29, 2025 hearing. Consequently, Respondent did not present any evidence to defend its license.
Hearing Evidence
Respondent provided an Answer to the Complaint and wrote in part:
As a standard policy, [Respondent] honors valid manufacturer warranties when applicable. However, because no valid manufacturer warranty was in place due to the customer’s failure to register the equipment, and because we were never contractually bound to provide warranty services beyond the installation itself, we assert that we have fulfilled all obligations under our scope of work and applicable agreements.
We respectfully request that both Charge 1 and Charge 2 in citation #2025-02691 be dismissed.
Complainant testified that in March 2025, the circuit breaker for the HVAC unit “flipped.” Complainant testified that on March 10, 2025, he reached out to Respondent and they came out and assessed the matter. Complainant stated that Respondent informed him that the compressor burnt out and they would charge $2,800.00 for labor. Complainant testified that he informed Respondent that labor and parts should be covered per the contract. Complainant testified that he was never informed that he needed to register the equipment and when he called NewACunit.com they informed him that it was the contractor’s responsibility per the Disclosure. Complainant testified that they were out of an HVAC unit for three months and worked with a family friend and paid for a new HVAC unit.
Administrative notice is taken of Respondent’s prior License record on August 19, 2025. Such prior License record reflects that Respondent’s License No. ROC 351330 was first issued on April 2, 2024, and is Active with no discipline against Respondent’s license.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The Notice of Hearing that the Registrar mailed to Respondent at its address and email address of record was reasonable and Respondent is deemed to have received notice of the hearing. See Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 41-1092.04; Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 41-1061(A).
By failing to appear at the hearing, Complainant did not meet the burden to present evidence in support of the complaint. See Ariz. Admin. Code R2-19-119.
This matter lies within the Registrar’s jurisdiction.
Complainant bears the burden of proof to establish Respondent’s statutory violations by a preponderance of the evidence. A preponderance of the evidence means “[p]roof which leads the trier of fact to find that the existence of the contested fact is more probable than its nonexistence.”
The evidence established that Respondent’s work was not in conformity with the Registrar’s standards. Therefore, Complainant established that Respondent did not complete the project in a workmanlike manner in violation of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(3), namely Ariz. Admin. Code R4-9-108(A).
Furthermore, the Disclosure was very clear that the contractor, Respondent, was responsible to fix the compressor per the terms of the contract and disclosure. The evidence established that Respondent did not attempt to complete the corrective work following the Directive being issued. Therefore, Complainant established that Respondent failed to take appropriate corrective action following a written directive from the Registrar in violation of Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(A)(22).
RECOMMENDED ORDER
Based on the foregoing,
It is recommended that on the effective date of the Order, the Registrar shall suspend Respondent’s License No. ROC 351330 for a period of one day.
It is further recommended that the Registrar require Respondent to pay the sum of $250.00 as a civil penalty pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1154(E).
It is further recommended that if Respondent fails to pay the entire amount of the civil penalty on or before thirty days following the effective date of the Registrar’s final order, the Registrar revoke Respondent’s license, effective on such deadline date. No future license shall be issued to any entity consisting of persons associated with Respondent, as defined in Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 32-1101(A)(5), unless Respondent tenders payment of any outstanding prior civil penalty.
Pursuant to Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 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, October 6, 2025.
/s/ Nicole Robinson
Administrative Law Judge
Transmitted by either mail, e-mail, or facsimile to:
Tom Cole, Director
Registrar of Contractors
c/o Legal Department
1700 W. Washington Street, Suite 105
Phoenix, AZ 85007
[email redacted]
Derek Barton
8820 W Manzanita Dr.
Peoria, AZ 85345
[email redacted]
Mike Wiskow
[email redacted]
First Opinion HVAC, LLC
2383 W. Silver Creak Lane
SAN TAN VALLEY, AZ 85144
[email redacted]
By: OAH Staff