County of Los Angeles v. Granite State Insurance
Opinion
Opinion
Ortega, J.
The trial court forfeited bail and entered summary judgment on the forfeiture. The court denied the surety’s (Granite State Insurance Company) motion to set aside the summary judgment and exonerate the bond. We conclude notice of the forfeiture was defective, entitling Granite State to exoneration of the bond.
Criminal defendant Danny Bellrio was released on a $30,000 bond posted by Granite State through its agent Millennium Bail Bonds. Bellrio was ordered to appear for a pretrial hearing on February 13, 2001. When he failed to appear, the trial court forfeited the bail and issued a bench warrant with $10,000 bail. The following constitutes the totality of the February 13 hearing: “The Court: On Bellrio, we are going to issue a bench warrant for Mr. Bellrio. The underlying offense is 11352. I will put $25,000—what was the previous bail? [f] Ms. Villanueva: Bail was previously 30,000. He has no other record. With the probation recommendation, I don’t know whether the Court would consider low bail, [f] The Court: I will at this time. $10,000. [f] The Clerk: Bail forfeited? [][] The Court: Bail forfeited, and 10,000 on the warrant.”