ALJDEC - Licensing
2025A-03641-OMC-LS-ROC · Registrar of Contractors · 2025-08-15
IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
Arizona Registrar of Contractors,
COMPLAINANT
v.
Low Cost Cabinets LLC
License No. ROC 346623,
RESPONDENT
No. 2025A-03641-OMC-LS-ROC
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE DECISION
HEARING: July 22, 2025
APPEARANCES:
Complainant: Mona Baskin, Assistant Attorney General
Margaret Lindsey, Assistant General Counsel
Respondent: No Appearance
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Nedra-Su Kawasaki
EXHIBITS ADMITTED INTO EVIDENCE: Administrative notice was taken of the Notice of Hearing and Hearing Packet submitted by the Registrar of Contractors. Complainant Exhibits 1-46; Appendix A.
_____________________________________________________________________
FINDINGS OF FACT
Low Cost Cabinets, LLC (Respondent) was the holder of License No. 346623, issued by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (Complainant) on July 20, 2023.
Joseph Brigham Darger (JBD) was named as the Qualifying Party and member with 50% ownership of License No. 346623.
As of July 22, 2025, Respondent’s license was suspended for no bond. There was one prior suspension on Respondent’s license which closed on November 4, 2024.
Sanels Wholesale Cabinets, LLC (Sanels) was the holder of License No. 338058, issued by Complainant on May 9, 2022.
JBD was named as the Qualifying Party and member with 34% ownership of License No. 338058.
JBD was associated, with Sanels License No. 338058, as the qualifying party beginning April 11, 2022 and ending September 25, 2023. JBD remained associated with Sanels license as a member as of the date of the hearing.
Sanels License was revoked on February 21, 2024, and May 10, 2024. Sanels License was suspended pending recovery fund payout, ordered by Maricopa County Superior Court on August 19, 2024.
Home Solutionz, LLC was the holder of License No. 317500, issued by Complainant on January 23, 2018.
On or about August 25, 2023, JBD was added as a member with 50% ownership of License 317500.
On August 31, 2023, JBD was named as the Qualifying Party of License No. 317500.
As of July 22, 2025, JBD was still associated with Home Solutionz, LLC License No. 317500, as a member with 50% ownership. JBD was disassociated as the Qualifying Party for License No. 317500 on February 1, 2025.
Home Solutionz, LLC license was revoked on at least eight separate occasions including on: March 25, 2024; April 12, 2024; April 22, 2024; June 14, 2024; June 26, 2024; August 28, 2024; November 19, 2024; and April 7, 2025.
On April 28, 2025, Complainant, on its own motion, issued a Citation and Complaint alleging a violation of A.R.S. § 32-1154(A)(20).
The matter was referred to the Office of Administrative Hearings, an independent state agency, for an evidentiary hearing.
A Notice of Hearing was issued setting a hearing at 9:00 a.m. on July 22, 2025. The Notice of Hearing was mailed to Respondent at its address and email address of record. An Order from the Office of Administrative Hearings advised the parties of how to connect to the hearing via Google Meet. The hearing was held as scheduled via Google Meet.
Complainant testified and presented evidence consistent with the facts set forth above. Complainant argued that it was the purpose of the Registrar of Contractors to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Complainant has serious concerns for the welfare of the public as it has already been harmed by the multiple statutory violations committed by Respondent.
In closing, Complainant noted Respondent’s long disregard of the regulatory authority of Complainant and its applicable rules. Specifically, Complainant quoted a previous administrative law judge decision that Respondent showed an “egregious unwillingness to be regulated,” and the Superior Court’s decision that Respondent demonstrated a “conscious disregard” of the established law. Further, although at the time of the hearing, Respondent’s license was suspended, the suspension could be cured, which presented a danger to the public.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
This matter lies within the Registrar’s jurisdiction.
The expiration, cancellation, suspension, or revocation of a license by operation of law or by decision and order of Complainant or a court of law or the voluntary surrender of a license by a licensee does not deprive Complainant of jurisdiction to proceed with any investigation of or action or disciplinary proceeding against such a licensee, or to render a decision suspending or revoking such a license, or denying the renewal or right of renewal of such a license.
The Notice of Hearing mailed to Respondent at its address and email address of record was reasonable, and Respondent is deemed to have received notice of the hearing.
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.
Complainant bears the burden of proof to establish Respondent’s statutory violation 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.”
A.R.S. § 32-1154(A) provides, in pertinent part:
The holder of a license or any person named on a license pursuant to this chapter may not commit any of the following acts or omissions:
. . . .
(20) Having a person named on the license who is or was named on any other license in this state or in another state that is under suspension or revocation for any act or omission that occurs while the person is or was named on the license unless the prior revocation was based solely on a violation of this paragraph.
In Arizona, when construing statutes, we look first to a statute’s language as the best and most reliable index of its meaning. If the statute’s language is clear and unambiguous, we give effect to that language and apply it without using other means of statutory construction, unless applying the literal language would lead to an absurd result. Words should be given “their natural, obvious, and ordinary meaning,” unless defined by the legislature.
In the instant matter, JBD was named as a qualifying party on three separate licenses during the same time frame — License No. 346623 (Low Cost Cabinet), License No. 338058 (Sanels), and License 317500 (Home Solutionz). JBD was named as the Qualifying Party on Respondent’s license as of July 20, 2023, and Home Solutionz’s license as of August 25, 2023. JBD was disassociated with Home Solutionz as the Qualifying Party on February 1, 2025, and remained the Qualifying Party for Respondent’s license as of the date of the hearing. As of July 22, 2025, JBD was a member of all three licenses. At all times that License No. 338058 (Sanels) was suspended/revoked, JBD was a Qualifying Party or member of all three licenses. At all times that License No. 317500 (Home Solutionz) was suspended/revoked, JBD was a Qualifying Party or member of all three licenses. Therefore, Complainant established that Respondent violated A.R.S. § 32-1154(A)(20), by having named JBD on its license at the same time JBD was named on other suspended/revoked licenses (License Nos. 338058 and 317500).
Based on Respondent’s violation of the provisions of A.R.S. § 32-1154(A)(20), ground exist to impose discipline against Respondent’s license.
RECOMMENDED ORDER
Based on the foregoing, it is recommended that the Registrar revoke Respondent’s License No. 346623 issued by the Registrar.
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, August 15, 2025.
/s/ Nedra-Su Kawasaki
Administrative Law Judge
Transmitted by either mail, e-mail, or facsimile to:
Tom Cole, Director
Registrar of Contractors
[email redacted]
Arizona Registrar of Contractors
[email redacted]
Low Cost Cabinets LLC
4126 E Gable Ave
Mesa, AZ 85206
By: OAH Staff