People v. Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Ins. Co. CA4/2

BACKGROUND

A bail bond is forfeited if the defendant fails to appear as ordered at a specified

hearing. (Pen. Code, § 1305, subd. (a).)1 If the defendant appears, either voluntarily or

in custody, within 180 days of the date of mailing the notice of forfeiture, the court must

vacate the order of forfeiture and exonerate the bond. (§ 1305, subd. (c)(1).) At any time

within this period—referred to variously as the appearance period or the exoneration

period, which is extended to 185 days to account for mailing of the notice of forfeiture—

the surety may seek an order extending the exoneration period. (People v. Bankers Ins.

Co. (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 1377, 1380.) The court may, if good cause is shown for

doing so, order the period extended “to a time not exceeding 180 days from its order.”

(§ 1305.4; see § 1305, subd. (j).) The courts have held that section 1305.4 allows an

extension of no more than 180 days past the 185-day period provided for in section 1305,

or multiple extensions totaling no more than 180 days. (People v. Bankers Ins. Co., at

p. 1380.) Once the exoneration period has elapsed without the forfeiture having been set

aside, the court “shall enter a…