Progress Without Consistent Process: Another Fiasco at the ADALB

Published in New England Automotive Report – Thomas Greco Publishing

Webster’s Dictionary defines a fiasco as “a complete failure,” a description that certainly applies to the year’s last meeting of the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB), held on December 11. Originally scheduled for November 27, the meeting was postponed for two weeks, yet the rescheduling prevented Chairman Michael Donovan from attending the meeting; Board member Carl Garcia (Carl’s Collision Center; Fall River) stepped into the role of Acting Chair in his stead. 

Although some progress was made during the meeting, the inconsistency in which topics were discussed versus which were pushed to a future agenda, the little progress that was made beyond this point raises more questions than it answers. 

Due to Donovan’s absence, Board member Peter Smith (MAPFRE) suggested postponing discussion on its review of amendments to 212 CMR 2.00 et. seq., a “courtesy” he also extended back on October 22, 2024 when Board member Bill Johnson (Pleasant Street Auto; South Hadley/Belchertown) was absent, though he didn’t make the same suggestion when Board member Vicky Wei Ye (Bos Insurance Agency) missed the September 23 meeting.

“The Chair doesn’t really weigh in much on the CMRs,” Johnson objected, expressing the opinion that the Board could continue its review. “We’re supposed to be the industry experts. He’s supposed to be the neutral party.”

His concerns were disregarded with the Board agreeing to set aside an hour as a workshop during the next meeting, which will be dedicated to reviewing the regulation and coming up with something that the entire Board is all “somewhat comfortable with” before proceeding with the process.

Another inconsistency in how the ADALB treats the absence of a Board member arose during the review of complaints. During Johnson’s absence in 2024, the Board voted on a complaint in its public meeting and another during Executive Session; however, when Ye was absent recently, Chairman Donovan had unequivocally insisted that complaints be tabled until the next meeting, despite Johnson and Garcia’s objections.

Despite the absence of Donovan, who typically serves to break the common ties on votes cast, the ADALB proceeded with reviewing complaints without voicing any objections to the lack of tie-breaking mechanism. Surprisingly, this played a much smaller role than usual with unanimous votes being cast on seven of the 13 complaints reviewed.

The theoretical need for a tie-breaker came into play on the remaining six complaints, which all received votes to proceed from Johnson and Garcia, while Smith and Ye cast their votes in the negative. Those ties result in a dismissal, according to Attorney Michael Powers who explained in a previous meeting, “Anytime the Board fails to move forward with a complaint, the Board’s past practice has been to dismiss it. We need an affirmative vote to move forward with the complaint, a majority vote.” Although Donovan’s presence likely would have been irrelevant as he has voted in line with the insurers on 93.75 percent of tied votes since March 2022, the decision to proceed without even the illusion of creating balance speaks volumes. 

Yet, the volume of discussion on the complaints was minimal at best. While the ADALB reviewed 13 complaints, the nature of most complaints was never announced or discussed as the Board members silently reviewed the documents on their laptops and occasionally made inaudible comments to their neighbors that left attendees completely in the dark. 

The ADALB is scheduled to reconvene on January 27. Information pertaining to the ADALB’s meeting schedule and planned agenda is typically posted by the Friday prior to the meeting at bit.ly/ADALBagendas.

MABA members are strongly encouraged to listen to the recording of the December 11 meeting in the Members Only section of aaspma.org for a glimpse into the inner workings of the ADALB. View the meeting agenda at bit.ly/ADALB121125. More detailed coverage of this meeting appears in the December 2025 issue of Damage Report, the association’s members-only newsletter.