DuFauchard

“No person shall engage in the business . . . of . . . acting as a prorater . . . without first obtaining a license from the commissioner.” (Fin. Code, § 12200.) “A prorater is a person who . . . engages in . . . the business of receiving money or evidences thereof for the purpose of distributing [it] among creditors in payment or partial payment of the obligations of the debtor.” (§ 12002.1, italics added.)

Plaintiffs Nationwide Asset Services, Inc., and Universal Nationwide, L.L.C., petitioned for a writ of administrative mandamus, seeking to vacate a decision of defendant, the Commissioner of Corporations, that upheld the issuance of its order prohibiting plaintiffs from acting as proraters, and that reserved for subsequent proceedings the issues of administrative levies and ancillary relief. (§§ 12002.1, 12103, 12105.) Plaintiffs argued that their activities did not fall within the statutory definition of prorating. The trial court denied the petition. In this timely appeal from the ensuing judgment, they renew their argument. We shall affirm.

BACKGROUND

Plaintiffs are part of the interrelated holdings of William Anderson and Gary Brown. They engage in the business…