People v. Bankers Ins. Co.

I do not agree with my colleagues that the case before us may be meaningfully distinguished from County of Los Angeles v. Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc. (2016) 247 Cal.App.4th 875 , 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 380 ( Financial Casualty ). In my view, Penal Code section 1305 1 required the superior court to send notice to the surety within 30 days after it declared a forfeiture in open court on July 19, 2016. Because it failed to do so, the court lacked jurisdiction to subsequently declare a forfeiture.

I. Facts

On June 3, 2016, criminal defendant Manuel Gheeraert was arraigned, the public defender was appointed to represent him, and his bail was set at $25,000. He was ordered to appear in court for a hearing on June 13 at 1:30 p.m. Bankers Insurance Company (Bankers) issued a bail bond on June 3, and Gheeraert was released from custody.

Gheeraert failed to appear as ordered on June 13, 2016, the bail was ordered forfeited, and a bench warrant was issued. On June 22, Gheeraert appeared in court with attorney Richard Weese, who substituted in as Gheeraert's counsel of record. Weese explained that he had mistakenly failed to appear on Gheeraert's behalf at the June 13 hearing, presented the…

*546 Bankers Insurance Company (Bankers) appeals from an order denying its motion to set aside forfeiture of a bail bond and to exonerate bail. Bankers contends that the trial court lost jurisdiction over the bond pursuant to Penal Code section 1305, subdivision (b) 1 when the trial court in open court forfeited a bail bond but reinstated it five minutes later and did not send a notice of forfeiture to the surety.

We conclude that, under these circumstances, the trial court retained jurisdiction over the bail bond.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On June 3, 2016, 2 Le Bail Bonds, an agent of Bankers, posted a $25,000 bail bond for the defendant whose bail bond is at issue here for a number of misdemeanor charges. On June 22, the defendant appeared with his attorney before the trial court, and the trial court gave him a court date of July 19, at 1:30 p.m.

On July 19, during the afternoon session, the trial court stated on the record "let the record reflect that [defense counsel] just walked in at 3:40. He indicates that he called, and he didn't leave his name. So we didn't know who it was that called. He said he would be here in a while, 45 minutes. As a result, five minutes…