A consumer wins a final judgment of $50,000 against a licensed contractor for fraudulent home improvement work. The CSLB license bond is $25,000. What is the most the claimant can recover from the bond itself?

Explanation

The licence bond is a fixed pool: recovery cannot exceed its $25,000 penal sum, and B&P §7071.11(a) provides that if the bond is insufficient to pay all claims in full, the sum is distributed to all claimants in proportion to the amount of their respective claims. There is no priority ladder and no consumer-fraud sub-limit; the only category ceiling is $4,000 on the surety's aggregate liability for wage and fringe benefit claims. A bond is not secondary security that tops up a judgment. And California has no CSLB recovery fund for general consumer claims, though §7071.11(b) blocks renewal while the unpaid balance stands and the consumer may still pursue the contractor for it.