County of Orange v. Lexington National Insurance

Lexington National Insurance Corporation (Lexington) appeals the trial court’s denial of its motion to exonerate a bail bond and entry of summary judgment against it on forfeiture of the bond. Lexington contends the statutory bail scheme imposes a mandatory duty on the trial court clerk to provide notice of a forfeiture and, when the clerk failed to send notice of an initial forfeiture declared when the bonded defendant missed an appearance, the trial court lost jurisdiction to declare a later forfeiture and enter summary judgment against Lexington. (See Pen. Code, § 1305; subsequent statutory references are to this code unless noted otherwise.) Alternatively, Lexington argues a bail agent it terminated had no authority to “reassume” the bond and therefore the trial court’s reinstatement of the bond after the initial forfeiture was invalid, and reinstatement was also invalid absent notice from the court clerk. We agree the court clerk’s failure to provide Lexington notice of the initial forfeiture constitutes jurisdictional error, and we therefore reverse and remand for entry of judgment exonerating the bond. Because Lexington’s alternative arguments are moot, we do not…