|
Bill, I find it quite informative and interesting to exchange information about how state laws and activities vary.
In CO, the Show Cause has to be mailed via Certified Mail with Proof of Delivery, within 10 days of the date of the failure to appear. I have read a couple of Appeal and Supreme Court rulings where a day or two didn't hinder the bondsman's ability to locate and apprehend, but anything beyond that is an automatic exoneration. Sometimes even clerical errors when gregious play a major role. We have 15 days to request a hearing, and if none is requested or ruled on, a bond judgment is filed on the 30th day from the fta. From the judgment date, we have 90 days to cure the forfeiture or be placed "On the Board."
I had one bondsman get a Show Cause that was dated almost two months after the alleged fta date. According to the show cause, the 15 day deadline was already past, as was the judgment date. A copy of the show cause was returned along with a motion for a bond exoneration based on the timing. Instead of a ruling, he got another copy of the Show Cause with the fta date whited out and the actual one written in. None of the other dates had changed. At this point, it was still near three weeks after the original fta, so again way past the legal deadline. This county is notorious for trying to force payment of forfeitures even after all bond conditions have been met. They put one bondsman in forfeiture because the defendant violated his probation. And, tried to enforce a money civil claims judgment on another. Both won, but only after hiring an attorney to show that both forfeitures violated state laws. Another time I was ordered to appear on a Show Cause hearing based on a motion for exoneration because I had two fta's on the same person and had turned him in to the nearest county. Fortunately he got transported before the hearing, but it was on my efforts that I found the hearing was cancelled. They ignored my repeated calls, so I finally looked it up online. The term "incompetent" comes to mind...
The new motion the bondsman filed accompanied copies of both the original Show Cause and the altered one. It was sent well in excess of the 15 day deadline to request a hearing based on the timing of the receipt of the altered Show Cause. This motion demanded a hearing before the Judge to argue our stance. He didn't get a response. This guy had several warrants, one of them mine, and these tactics allowed that first forfeiture to be delayed long enough to get the defendant into custody and cure it. The final motion demanded exoneration, and it was granted.
It's not that I like using technicalities to get a bond exoneration, but when they are such that state law prohibits me from making a legal apprehension I have no choice. I have only used this same one a couple of times on my bonds, and it wasn't that they were sent late, but not sent at all. In both cases the Judge didn't order the forfeiture for whatever reason, and by the time I found out the defendant had the fta warrant it was well past the time I could be held liable. If I wasn't liable, I had no apprehension authority. That is what my motion said and I won.
I learn a lot from other bondsman, and on the forums. If the bondsmen that hire me have the same knowledge and resources, then they would have no need for me. We get calls and referrals from each other because of our knowledge and resources. For those that hire us that aren't in our networks, we are a valuable resource. For those within our networks, we know the value of such. While I may not tell my resources, I have been known to tell a person that it is not only what you know, but who you know. We all have valuable information and resources to share. Any and all of us are good on our own, but together we are GREAT!!
_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO
Proud Member of the AB Reject Club
|
