Apollo Estates, Inc. v. Department of Real Estate

Petitioners Apollo Estates, Inc., and Benjamin Ballinger, Jr., appeal from a judgment denying their petition for a writ of mandate which sought to set aside respondent Department of Real Estate’s order revoking petitioners’ real estate licenses and in lieu thereof to reinstate petitioners’ licenses as they existed before the order was issued or in conformity with the proposed decision of the administrative law judge. The administrative decision would have revoked the restricted real estate broker’s licenses subject to reapplication not sooner than 30 days from the date of the decision.

Petitioners here contend that the trial court applied the wrong standard for review, the appropriate standard being independent judgment, and that in any case under the substantial evidence test the judgment must be reversed and the penalty be found grossly disproportionate to the alleged misconduct.

Factual Background

On May 10, 1983, the Department of Real Estate (DRE) filed an accusation against petitioners alleging three separate causes of accusation essentially stating that (1) the corporate powers of petitioner Apollo Estates, Inc. had been suspended, (2) the conduct or omission of…