Forfeiture ordered for "CONDUCT" rather than "

Actually, I think it went pretty well all things considering. I think we gained a little respect as follows:

I am involved in another case in Circuit court in his jurisdiction and I called the CA’s office for some input since I am on the plaintiff’s side in this one and the defendant owes me money… I did not know it at the time but the same CA is the prosecuting attorney on that case and he got on the phone and I identified myself and told him I would like to be subpoenaed on the case since I had monies owed to me from the defendant and thought it would be to my advantage and the prosecutions advantage if I did so since I had pertinent info relating to the case and before I went after the defendant on a warrant in debt case, I figured if he was convicted on the felony charge I could probably get the court to grant me restitution which would be much easier to collect than a judgment and also if the defendant did not pay he would be rearrested… a very nice incentive to pay me… thus, everyone would gain.

Well, the CA said that was pretty slick and it would in fact work in their interest in the case and we could both have a positive outcome by working together. After the conversation was over I ask his name (I thought it was him all the way through but wanted to verify)… it was the same CA that prosecuted me… he said and I quote: “Mr. Marx, our dealings on your case was strictly business” and I said the same. ( of course I knew better but it would remain unsaid to both our advantage)

So I think again, we made out on this one.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

Unbelievable… I just went online to verify what I have been posting on this article and found the following: “Judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $5000.” This means they forfeited on conduct rather than appearance and the case was found in favor of the commonwealth attorney and I have a judgment on me for $5000.

This is in direct contradiction to the conversation that I had with the CA several days ago… I immediately called my attorney and he told me not to worry, it was obviously an error by the clerk of circuit court!!! Well, my attorney called the court and the CA and it was in fact an error on the part of the clerk that entered the info on the case… now this is my take on this preposterous occurrence.

If I had not checked to make sure of the outcome… would this have been entered as finalized and after the 15 day right to appeal, had I not seen this… would the results have remained unchangeable and would we have had to re-file again to fight the decision???

This is the kind of crap that we are dealing with all the time in our business!!! If a clerk makes an error and we do not catch it… can you see what drastic effects it can have and we would have to start over at our costs with no recourse…

People, you had better watch and check every damn thing that you do in this system… otherwise you’re butt will be in a pinch and you wallet will be emptied quickly.

Is this BS or what?

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

Bill,

I'm glad you've been able to resolve this issue in your favour.

Re: Clerk errors/Input errors

This is not new to us down here. We find mistakes like that all the time. It does take consistent case monitoring, case by case, defendant by defendant.

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

… another quirky thing relating to this particular CA… again unbelievable…

There were co-defendants in this case… myself and the defendant on the original bond that had been revoked and to which the CA was attempting forfeiture on conduct.

So according to the CA, the judge found in my favor on the forfeiture, but the co-defendant in the case was found default judgment… in other words the forfeiture was dismissed against me and upheld against the defendant on the bond… can someone in the legal community explain to me how you can split a court decision when it is the same case and you have co-defendant? It seems to me that if the decision was found in favor of one of the co-defendants… it holds true to the other... keeping in mind that this is a civil and not a criminal case. My attorney says it is not applicable and since we “do not have a dog in that fight” we will step away with our positive outcome and let the defendant fight that fight, keeping in mind that the defendant did in fact have the bond revoked and did in fact go back to jail… which is where he is now.

This case is in my opinion, ridiculous and scary…

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

It's about money Bill....that's all.

_________________
River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

Sounds to me, in a round about way, they did the right thing by letting you off the hook and punish him for his actions.

Not sure of the method, but the outcome is probably just.

A somewhat similar situation is happening to a bondsman here. The judge issued a warrant for contempt of court for not providing requested information on a small claims case. Instead of making it a cash bond for the amount of the judgment, the judge allowed a surety to post it. The defendant FTA'd, the bondsman paid the bond, but apprehended the defendant a few days later. He filed the motion for remission, but the plaintiff's collection attorney in the small claims case went to court to demand that the money be paid to the plaintiff instead. His argument is that it doesn't fall under the criminal statute, but under the CRCP which does state that the forfeiture would go to the plaintiff if the defendant FTA'd. The attorney is very near persuading the judge on this. The judge admitted that he had allowed remission in the past on this same type of bond, but that was before this damn collector got involved.

Had it been a cash bond paid by the defendant, I would agree, but it wasn't. I gave the bondsman some ideas on how to fight it. One of my primary arguments was that if the judge forfeited the bond under the statute, then he coerced the bondsman into paying under false pretenses, if in fact the bond didn't fall under the statute. In the same line of reasoning, we are not allowed to post bonds to cover money liability if the performance or non-performance of the liability would force us to pay the bond, so once again, by setting the bond as he did, the judge coerced the bondsman into writing an illegal bond. If the judge is forced to admit that the bond was civil, then that should be an automatic exoneration. If he forfeited it under the statute (and I know he did) then the bondsman has up to a year after the bond is paid to request remission, so the forfeiture would not be perfected until that time. After that time I could also agree with paying it to the plaintiff.

Something else I just thought of, is was the defendant allowed to bail again on a Surety bond? Or was it a cash only bond? Did the judge put another bondsman into this same jeopardy? I'll have to check on that...

I am curious if anyone else has had anything similar happen and what worked or didn't work for them.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

I bumped this post because I think it addresses this issue... do not believe for a minute that a court will not try to forfeit on conduct even though your power specifies 'appearance' only... frankly, it means nothing and if certain CA's believe they can get in your pocket they will do it............. it's all about money....... period.

THIS IS A REAL SORE SUBJECT FOR ME... I HAVE EXPERIENCED IT FIRST HAND AND I KNOW WHAT AND WHERE IT IS HEADED. Sorry for the obvious attitude here but this subject really yanks my chain.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

I know the pain first hand.......

_________________
Steve Faircloth
A Way Out Bail Bonds
(220) 204-9733 Cell
NSIN# SF0105
LIC. #704058

BTW, the case that I mentioned above was ruled in favor of the bondsman, and the collections attorney was severely chastised. The judge pretty much told him that he had attempted fraud on the court, and if he attempted the same in the future, he would be sanctioned. The attorney had won a few judgments in the past because the bondsmen he went against didn't consider the cost of fighting it worth the fight. This was still a small bond, but the bondsman fought it on principal, and he used his insurance company's attorney.

My state law is very specific in that the ONLY reason a bond can be forfeited is for the defendant's failure to appear. Any other conditions whether stated on the bond form or in the bondsman's paperwork are cause for revocation, but not cause to hold the bondsman liable for the defendant's performance other than his/her appearance in court. If the court revokes a bond, the bondsman is exonerated. If the bondsman revokes the bond, he/she can do so by surrendering the defendant in court or to the jail, and the bondsman files a motion and is exonerated.

While I understand and further explain to my defendants that the bond I posted for them releases them into my custody, I can't control their actions while they are on bond. If I were required to do so, I would have to effectively build my own jail and have them under my 24/7 control. That simply isn't feasible for any of us, and most states understand that. Some only want the money, so try to collect (as in Bill's case) for the defendant's performance, even though the defendant was in custody. They tried to punish the bondsman for something outside his control. I can also see the split judgment, finding in favor of Bill, but against the defendant, but at the same time, until the defendant was found guilty, it seems he was being punished and fined for allegations rather than a conviction, for which he would also be fined and sentenced in addition to the "fine" for the bond forfeiture if found guilty. I would be interested in how the rest of this case played out.

_________________
Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club