County of Los Angeles v. Surety Insurance

This appeal is taken from an order of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the Honorable Norman L. Epstein, judge presiding, dated October 17, 1985, denying the motion of appellant, Surety Insurance Company (hereafter SIC) for an order exonerating bond and declaring judgment unenforceable. Affirmed.

Respondent has filed no brief on the appeal. Although in our discretion we might automatically order reversal, treating SIC’s point as well taken (Berry v. Ryan (1950) 97 Cal.App.2d 492, 493 [ 217 P.2d 1015 ]), we follow the better practice of examining the record on the basis of SIC’s brief and *1129 reversing only if prejudicial error is found. (Votaw Precision Tool Co. v. Air Canada (1976) 60 Cal.App.3d 52, 55 [ 131 Cal.Rptr. 335 ]; In re Marriage of Schultz (1980) 105 Cal.App.3d 846, 853 [ 164 Cal.Rptr. 653 ].) Nevertheless, we note the lack of assistance from respondent in doing so.

Preliminary Statement

Since the facts are not in dispute, the court finds it sufficient to set forth this preliminary statement of the proceedings below.

On July 2, 1981, the bail posted by SIC was declared forfeited, the defendant having failed to appear in his criminal proceeding.…