People v. American Contractors Indemnity Co., 2003 WL 22753648 (Cal. App. November 21, 2003) reverses summary judgment on a bail bond and directs that the surety be exonerated. The defendant failed to appear on May 21 but her attorney indicated she had car trouble. The court forfeited the bond but stayed the bench warrant. The defendant appeared on May 23 and the bail was reassumed. On June 11 the defendant again failed to appear, the bond was again forfeited, and this time notice of the forfeiture was given to the surety and bail agent. They were not given timely notice of the May 21 forfeiture. The Court of Appeals held that failure to give notice of the May 21 forfeiture deprived the trial court of jurisdiction over the bond and the subsequent forfeiture was void. The Court specifically stated that (1) no prejudice need be shown from failure to give the statutory notice of a bail forfeiture, (2) notice is required for every forfeiture, (3) a forfeiture order cannot be stayed, the proper statutory procedure is to continue the case without ordering forfeiture, and (4) the judge’s intent is to be found from his or her own words not the clerk’s minute orders. In this case the Sixth District Court of Appeal does not mention the collateral attack/estoppel argument of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in People v. American Contractors Indemnity Co., 2003 WL 22300590 (October 8, 2003), on rehearing WL 22480588 (November 4, 2003) even though it appears that the surety followed the same procedure and moved to set aside the judgment of forfeiture as made without jurisdiction rather than directly appealing its entry.
