THE PRELIMNARY AND FINAL ASSESSED PENALTY AMOUNTS 

Written by: Hearing Office Staff

We continue to receive much “discussion” regarding the assessed 

penalty amounts especially when they are compared to the 

maximum penalties allowed by law or to the penalty amounts 

recommended by a unit for a particular violation. 

There is an important principle to remember. Penalties imposed by 

the Hearing Office are intended to be remedial; that is, to cause the 

charged party to “remedy” the violation. They are also intended to 

discourage the occurrence of future violations. Penalties imposed by 

the Hearing Office are not intended to be “punishment” for violations 

found “proved.” The Hearing Office does not impose fines. 

When a Coast Guard unit forwards a violation case file to the 

Hearing Office, the violations alleged in the case file are not “proved” 

at that time. The charged party receives a copy of the violation case 

file with the Hearing Officer’s letter assessing a preliminary penalty 

amount. What does this mean? This means that the Hearing Officer 

found sufficient evidence in the case file to proceed with a 

preliminary finding and that a civil penalty is warranted. The 

preliminary assessed penalty amount is the amount that the 

Hearing Officer determines appropriate for the violation(s) after 

reviewing the Coast Guard’s evidence in the case file. It may not be 

the maximum allowed by law and it may be different than the unit’s 

recommended penalty amount. Why?

The Hearing Officer is not required to assess the unit’s 

recommended penalty amount. The Hearing Officer considers the 

facts and circumstances presented in the case file surrounding the 

alleged violation. The Hearing Officer weighs the strength of the 
evidence, past violation history, and aggravating and mitigating 

factors, and considers every piece of information in the case file 

including the unit’s penalty recommendation to formulate the 

preliminary penalty amount. The Hearing Officer also considers the 

maximum penalty allowed by law including any inflation adjustment 

that may have been authorized. It is after due consideration of the 

entire case file that the Hearing Officer formulates the preliminary 

penalty amount. 

A determination as to whether the violation occurred as alleged and 

any appropriate final penalty is made after the party has had an 

opportunity to respond to the Hearing Officer’s preliminary 

assessment letter and case file. This means that the charged party 

may provide evidence to show that the violation did not occur as 

alleged (evidence in defense), or the charged party may admit the 

violation but provide an explanation that excuses the violation 

(evidence in extenuation), or the charged party may admit the 

violation but provide a basis as to why the penalty should be less 

than it otherwise might be (evidence in mitigation). The Hearing 

Officer considers and weighs the strength of all of the evidence 

submitted by the charged party.

To find the violation “proved” the Hearing Officer applies a standard 

of proof. The standard of proof is the “preponderance of evidence” 

standard. This means that the Hearing Office must determine, after 

due consideration of the Coast Guard’s evidence and the charged 

party’s evidence, whether it is more likely than not the violation 

occurred as alleged. If so, the violation is “proved.”

The final assessed penalty amount is an amount equal to the 

preliminary assessed penalty amount or an amount that is less than 

the preliminary assessed penalty amount. All evidence presented in 

the Coast Guard's case file and by the charged party is carefully 

considered and weighed to formulate the final penalty amount.

In order that determinations made by the Hearing Officer are fair to 

both the Coast Guard unit submitting the violation case and to the 

mariner responding to the violation(s), both the Coast Guard unit 

and the mariner would be well served by submitting complete, 

relevant, reliable, and credible evidence.