A Bail Bond company based in Riverside, with a small retail office in Vista, was ordered to pay Los Angeles County $1,240,000.00 after they couldn’t find an 18 year old male defendant, Oscar Grijalva, within 185 days of his failing to appear in court.
When a Bail Bond company posts a bond for a defendant, that defendant is actually released from the custody of the Sheriff and into the custody of the bail Bond agency, who in turn take financial responsibility if the defendant does not appear in court to face charges. The State of California allows 180 days, plus 5 days for mailing, to locate and return to custody a defendant who was out on a bail bond and failed to appear in court. But if a Bail Bond company has documentation of their ongoing search and has justifiable reason to believe they will find and apprehend the defendant, the Court may allow up to an additional 180 days before entering a Summary Judgement demanding full payment of the bond amount in question.
Paying off a bond gone bad stings, but unfortunately it’s part of the business. Bail bond company’s have to conduct due diligence, weigh the risk, and make the best decisions on a case-by-case basis. The majority of people that are bailed out are hard working individuals who made a mistake and want out of jail. Less than 2% of the people bailed out by Vista Bail Bonds fail to appear in court, and almost half of those reappearances and exonerate their cases.
The Department of Justice report published in 2007 stated that defendants released on their own recognizance failed to appear in court 26% of the time, versus an average of 18% who are released on a bail bond. Besides offering the county a lower number of FTA’s (failing to appear), bail bond companies bear all of the expense of returning a defendant to court if necessary and at no cost to the taxpayer.
The Bail Bond profession in the legal system is the proverbial redheaded stepchild. For the most part, Courts, Judges, Lawyers and the legal system in general have little idea what a bail bondsman does other than get people out of jail for money. The fact is that thousands of defendants in every county of California get bailed out and reunited with their families and friends and don’t lose their jobs.
Everyday Bail Bond company’s know that the only good bond is the exonerated bond. Yet with each bond written, they take that chance of losing it all by accepting the responsibility to pay the full bond amount, plus expenses, for a defendant that might not appear in Court and isn’t returned to the custody of the court in the time allowed, again at no cost to the taxpayer.
