People v. Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance

Defendant and appellant Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company (Indiana), the surety on a bail bond, appeals an order *1543 denying its motion to vacate the forfeiture of a $625,000 bond and to exonerate bail. 1 We affirm the trial court’s order denying the surety’s motion.

Two felony cases were pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court against criminal defendant Joseph Parseg Mkrtchyan (Mkrtchyan): (1) a single-count robbery case (Pen. Code, § 211) in the west district, at the Airport Courthouse (the Airport case), in which Mkrtchyan was released on his own recognizance and (2) an 11-count robbery case in the northwest district, at Van Nuys Courthouse West (the Van Nuys case), in which Indiana had issued a $625,000 bond. 2 At the time Indiana issued said bond in 2008, both cases were in existence. The Los Angeles Superior Court subsequently consolidated the two cases in Van Nuys, with the airport robbery charge added as count 12 to the Van Nuys case. Mkrtchyan thereafter failed to appear and the bond was forfeited.

Indiana contends the addition of new and unrelated charges to the bail bond after it was posted constituted a material change in the conditions of the…