People v. Ranger Insurance

Appellant Ranger Insurance Company posted a $10,000 bond for Mauro Rosas Ortiz in criminal case No. 139572 which was set for trial in the Santa Clara County Superior Court on October 9, 1990. Ortiz failed to appear at either a narcotics case review (hereafter, NCR) calendar or for trial six days later, at which time the court ordered the bond forfeited. In appealing denial of its motion to vacate a summary judgment on the bail forfeiture, appellant contends that the court lost jurisdiction to forfeit the bond when it failed to declare a forfeiture on Ortiz’s first nonappearance. We disagree and affirm.

Facts

The clerk’s transcript, the only record of Ortiz’s conduct, shows that he was present for arraignment with his attorney and a Spanish language interpreter in superior court on July 16, 1990. The clerk’s minutes for July 16 show “Pretrial” crossed out and “NCR” written in, with “10-3-90 9—” following. In the next space, after the preprinted word “Trial,” is the handwritten entry “10-9-90.”

The next document, the clerk’s minutes for October 9, show that Ortiz was not present, that a bench warrant issued, that bail was forfeited, and that new bail was set at $25,000.…