How to reproduce: Bind RadCardView to the Employees table from the Northwind database: public partial class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); this.radCardView1.CardViewItemCreating += radCardView1_CardViewItemCreating; } private void radCardView1_CardViewItemCreating(object sender, Telerik.WinControls.UI.CardViewItemCreatingEventArgs e) { CardViewGroupItem group = e.NewItem as CardViewGroupItem; if (group != null) { group.IsExpanded = false; } } private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { this.employeesTableAdapter.Fill(this.nwindDataSet.Employees); } } Workaround: handle the CardViewItemFormatting event private void radCardView1_CardViewItemFormatting(object sender, CardViewItemFormattingEventArgs e) { CardViewGroupItem group = e.Item as CardViewGroupItem; if (group != null && group.Tag == null && group.Parent != null && group.Parent.Parent != null && group.Parent.Parent is CardListViewVisualItem) { group.IsExpanded = false; group.Tag = "Processed"; } }