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Judge Hears Bail Bond Companies’ Dispute
By John Lyon
times record •
A dispute between rival bail bond companies will be decided in Sebastian County Circuit Court sometime in September or October, a judge said Monday.
Circuit Judge Michael Fitzhugh presided over a hearing Monday in a civil suit that was filed May 3 by Bob Cole Bail Bonds against Sebastian County Circuit Clerk Nancy Brewer. The case involves a dispute over the way bail bond companies’ names and phone numbers are provided to inmates at the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center.
According to the suit, a list of bail bond companies has been posted at the jail since at least 1989, and Bob Cole Bail Bonds has been at the top of the list from the beginning. On May 2, Brewer, who under state law is responsible for providing the list to the jail and keeping it updated, gave the jail a new list that placed Bob Cole in the third position, below two other companies.
Bob Cole petitioned the court for temporary and permanent injunctions reinstating the previous list, arguing that it was being damaged financially because the company named first on the list tends to receive the most business. Fitzhugh granted a temporary injunction, and the new list was replaced with the old one.
First Arkansas Bail Bonds, which has been allowed to intervene in the case, filed a motion to remove the temporary injunction. Fitzhugh denied the motion at Monday’s hearing and said the question of whether to grant a permanent injunction will be taken up in three or four months.
Fitzhugh also denied a motion by Bob Cole to set aside his order allowing First Arkansas to intervene in the case.
The revised list that was posted for just one day listed First Arkansas in the second position, just ahead of Bob Cole. Spencer Bonding Services was listed first.
Brewer testified at the hearing that she changed the list after First Arkansas advised her that Bob Cole was not the first company to register with her office. State law requires bail bond companies to be listed at jails “in the order in which they register with the clerk” and specifies that the order “shall not change from year to year.”
Brewer said she did some research and learned that the order of the list — which she inherited from her predecessor — did not exactly reflect the order in which companies filed their licenses with the clerk’s office, so she revised it.
Marvin Honeycutt, attorney for Bob Cole, argued that First Arkansas should not be allowed to intervene because the statute of limitations that applies to the case is five years, and the list is at least 17 years old. If First Arkansas had a problem with the list, it should have raised it years ago, he said.
Carl Bush, attorney for First Arkansas, argued that the statute of limitations has not expired because the list constitutes a continuing violation. Even if the statute of limitations did expire five years after the old list was posted, the posting of a new list in May triggered a new statute of limitations, he said.
Although he denied Bob Cole’s motion, Fitzhugh said arguments about the statue of limitations could be raised again when the court considers the petition for a permanent injunction.
Fitzhugh also granted a request by Brewer that she be allowed to add new company names, change phone numbers and make other rudimentary changes to the list, as long as the order does not change. The wording of the temporary injunction forbade any changes to the list, which Brewer said prevented her from updating it.
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Steve Faircloth
A Way Out Bail Bonds
(220) 204-9733 Cell
NSIN# SF0105
LIC. #704058
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