United States v. Ismael Felipe Arnaiz v. All State Bail Bonds, Inc. And Jerry Miller, Movants-Appellants

842 F.2d 217 105 A.L.R.Fed. 703 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. Ismael Felipe ARNAIZ, et al., Defendant-Appellee, v. ALL STATE BAIL BONDS, INC. and Jerry Miller, Movants-Appellants. No. 85-1089. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted Aug. 13, 1987. * Decided March 11, 1988. Robert M. Haggard, Coral Gables, Fla., for movants-appellants. A.P. Walter, Jr., Coral Gables, Fla., for defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Before SCHROEDER, POOLE and KOZINSKI, Circuit Judges. POOLE, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellant All State Bail Bonds, Inc. (All State) challenges the jurisdiction of the district court to order All State to return to defendant Arnaiz the collateral and one-half of the premium paid to obtain a corporate surety bond. We reverse the district court's order regarding the premium, but we affirm its jurisdiction to order the return of the collateral. 2 We begin with a brief statement of the facts. 1 In March of 1984, Arnaiz was indicted on a variety of federal drug charges. He obtained a $250,000 corporate surety bond from All State Bail Bonds, through its agent, Jerry Miller. On October 15, 1984, All…

Appellant All State Bail Bonds, Inc. (All State) challenges the jurisdiction of the district court to order All State to return to defendant Arnaiz the collateral and one-half of the premium paid to obtain a corporate surety bond. We reverse the district court’s order regarding the premium, but we affirm its jurisdiction to order the return of the collateral.

We begin with a brief statement of the facts. 1 In March of 1984, Arnaiz was indicted on a variety of federal drug charges. He obtained a $250,000 corporate surety bond from All State Bail Bonds, through its agent, Jerry Miller. On October 15, 1984, All State surrendered Arnaiz to the United States Marshal. A U.S. Magistrate relieved All State of its suretyship obligations, exonerating the bond and ordering All State to return to Arnaiz his collateral ($12,000). The magistrate’s order was affirmed by the district court on October 19.

On October 26, Arnaiz moved to recover the premium on the bond. All State failed to respond, and on November 16, the district court ordered All State to return half of the premium ($15,000). All State’s motion for reconsideration of the orders to return the collateral and premium was denied on…

dissenting.

The majority holds that although the district court has jurisdiction to terminate a bonding company’s obligation on a bail bond before trial, the court lacks jurisdiction to order a corresponding return of the premium owed to the defendant as a result of the cancelled obligation. Thus, the majority forces the defendant to file a separate action in state court for a refund of the premium paid to obtain bail ordered pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3142 and under the protections of the Eighth Amendment. This is an awkward, unjust, and unnecessary result. I therefore respectfully dissent.

Understanding what happened in this case is important. The defendant was arrested on serious charges and ordered to post $250,000 bond. In April 1984, he obtained bond from the appellant bonding company in return for posting collateral, and paying, up front, a $30,000 premium. About six months later, the bonding company asked to be relieved of its obligations as surety, apparently because it feared the defendant would not appear. The district court granted the request, and ordered the bond exonerated and the collateral released. It also granted the defendant’s motion for a pro-rata return of…