People v. Surety Insurance

Surety Insurance Company of California (hereafter Surety) appeals from an order denying its motion to vacate a forfeiture of a surety bond and to have its bond exonerated. The primary concern is whether or not the superior court, by reason of its failure to declare an immediate forfeiture of the bail bond at a proceeding in which defendant Santoyo failed to appear, lost its jurisdiction to declare the forfeiture at a later date. We conclude that the court did lose its jurisdiction to declare the forfeiture.

The relevant facts are as follows: On March 27, 1981, an information was filed against defendant Jose Santoyo charging him with violating Penal Code section 211 (robbery). Defendant was arraigned and pled not guilty. Bail was set at $5,000. Thereafter, Surety secured defendant Santoyo’s release by posting a bail bond in that amount. Upon posting of bond, defendant Santoyo was released from custody and was ordered to return to court on May 22, 1981.

On May 22, 1981, defendant Santoyo failed to appear in court. As a result, the following colloquy took place:

The remainder of the proceeding concerned a codefendant. The minute order executed on that date indicates that…