Case library / What happens after discipline
Four ways to violate probation, and one of them is not paying
In short
Four ways to violate probation, and one of them is not paying?
License revoked
$4,530Including failure to pay the cost recovery from the original order.
What happened
The original discipline rested on a conviction under §4982(a), a dishonest act under §4982(j) — concealing damage to a rental car with body filler — and §4982(e) with 16 CCR §1845 for never answering a Board inquiry.
The petition to revoke probation alleged four separate failures: not completing the ordered psychological evaluation; not obeying all laws; not submitting quarterly reports; and not paying the cost recovery.
On the obey-all-laws condition, police responded to his office, where he was screaming. He had been living in the office, had confronted his landlord with an axe, and refused officers' orders.
What it was charged as
Failure to complete the ordered psychological evaluation.
Failure to obey all laws.
Failure to submit quarterly reports.
Failure to pay cost recovery.
The outcome
License revoked.
OAH No. 2020120643
$4,530ordered in cost recovery under B&P §125.3What the rule actually says
Cost recovery is a probation condition, which means not paying it is a violation of probation and an independent ground to revoke. B&P §125.3 lets an administrative law judge order a licensee to pay the reasonable costs of investigating and enforcing the case, including the Attorney General's charges. The judge may reduce or eliminate the amount but cannot increase it beyond the certified cost statement.
Where insurance reaches, and where it does not
Cost recovery is not a defense cost and no sublimit pays it. This is the number to plan for: in this dataset it runs from $882 for a single settled DUI to $15,883 for a contested sexual misconduct case, and it is separate from your own lawyer.
What would have changed it
- If you cannot pay the cost recovery, negotiate a payment schedule into the order at the settlement stage. It is far easier than responding to a petition to revoke.
- File the quarterly reports even in quarters where nothing happened. Missing them is the most common single probation violation in the data.
Source. This write-up is drawn from the signed public decision in the case number above. Names, cities and employers have been removed — why. To pull the original, open the Board's quarterly newsletter archive, find the issue covering December 19, 2024, and match the case number in the Formal Disciplinary Actions section. Not legal advice.
