Coastal Bail Bonds, Inc. v. State

749 So. 2d 433, 1999 Ala. LEXIS 358, 1999 WL 1001215
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedNovember 5, 1999
Docket1980165
StatusPublished

This text of 749 So. 2d 433 (Coastal Bail Bonds, Inc. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coastal Bail Bonds, Inc. v. State, 749 So. 2d 433, 1999 Ala. LEXIS 358, 1999 WL 1001215 (Ala. 1999).

Opinion

JOHNSTONE, Justice.

Coastal Bail Bonds, Inc., appeals from the judgment of the trial court finally forfeiting the $250,000 in consolidated bail bonds that Coastal posted for Giusseppe Pino Loporto. On July 3, 1996, Coastal, acting as a surety for Loporto, signed and filed, in the Baldwin County District Court, the three consolidated bonds totaling $250,000 for Loporto’s release. Two of the consolidated bonds were in the sum of $100,000 each for charges of sodomy in the first degree and rape in the first degree, and the third bond was in the sum of $50,000 for the charge of sexual abuse in the first degree.

On July 29, 1996, the grand jury issued an 11-count indictment against Loporto for the alleged rape, sodomy, and sexual abuse of his daughter. The indictment was filed in the Baldwin County Circuit Court in case number CC-96-1207. Defense counsel filed a motion to dismiss the indictment or, in the alternative, a motion for a more definite statement; and the circuit court granted the motion for a more definite statement on September 4, 1996. The circuit court ordered the State to “provide the defendant the date or date-range and place of each count in the indictment.” (Case Action Summary Sheet at p. 1.) On December 19, 1997, in the last of several efforts to comply with the more-definite-statement order, the State moved to amend the 11-count indictment and to adopt a 28-count indictment that the grand jury had returned in November 1997. The new indictment charged Lopor-to with 28 counts of rape, sodomy, and sexual abuse involving his same daughter, and each count specified a time period when, and a location where, the alleged sexual offense occurred. With the consent of the defendant, the circuit court granted the State’s motion and treated the new 28-count indictment as an amendment to the original 11-count indictment and not as a different or separate case against the defendant. The circuit court also ordered that the $250,000 in bonds issued by Coastal “be applied to” the 28-count indictment “with the consent of the bonding company.” (Defendant’s exhibit 7.) Coastal did not expressly consent in court, and, indeed, objected outside of court in a discussion with defense counsel. Coastal, however, did not file in court any objection to the application of the bonds to the new indictment until after the bonds had been conditionally forfeited for Loporto’s failure to appear.

On April 13, 1998, the date Loporto’s trial was scheduled to begin, Loporto did not appear in court. The circuit court issued an alias warrant for Loporto’s arrest and a conditional forfeiture of the bonds. Coastal filed a “motion to dismiss bond” on the principal ground1 that Coastal did not consent to the application of the $250,000 in bonds to the 28-count indictment, which, Coastal argued, increased its risk.

At a forfeiture hearing, Don Bolton, Lo-porto’s lawyer, testified that, after the original indictment against Loporto was amended, he telephoned Coastal and informed its representative, Johnny Hinote, of the new indictment and the court order [435]*435to transfer or to apply the bonds to the new indictment. He further testified that Hinote told him Coastal would not consent to allow the $250,000 in bonds to cover Loporto with regard to the new indictment. However, Bolton said, Hinote told Bolton that, “if Mr. Loporto was served with the new indictment and arrested, they would be happy to make the new bond, but would require a new fee.” Bolton stated that Loporto was never arrested on the new indictment, and, therefore, no new bond was sought or issued. Coastal never surrendered Loporto on any bond.

Hinote testified that, because the 17 additional charges in the 28-count indictment increased Coastal’s risk, Coastal did not consent to the application of the $250,000 in bonds to the 28-count indictment. Hi-note testified, however, that before the April 13, 1998 trial date, Coastal had consistently verified that Loporto was continually appearing in court as scheduled.

The circuit court found that, because Coastal had originally issued the consolidated bonds for Loporto’s release, Coastal’s liability as a surety continued “until [Loporto] may be discharged by the Circuit Court” on all the charges pending against him. Thus, the circuit court entered a judgment against Coastal for $250,000, the total of the three consolidated bonds posted for Loporto’s release.

Coastal argues before us that it “should be exonerated from liability on [its] surety bond when the [circuit] court allowed the indictment to be materially amended with new charges which substantially increased the surety’s risk without its consent.” (Appellant’s brief át p. 8.) Coastal contends that, because the 17 additional counts in the 28-count indictment “substantially changed” the nature of the charges against Loporto, Coastal was no longer obligated under the bonds.

Each of the three consolidated bonds posted by Coastal in this case was written on a form issued by the State of Alabama Unified Judicial System. Each contains the heading “CONSOLIDATED BOND (District Court, Grand Jury, Circuit Court).” Each bond states that the surety agrees to pay the State of Alabama the amount of the bond unless the named defendant appears before the district court or circuit court, “there to await the action by the grand jury and from session to session thereafter until discharged by law to answer the charge of [here each bond contains a blank completed, as appropriate, with either “Rape 1st,” “Sodomy 1st,” or “Sexual Abuse 1st”] or any other charge.”2 (Emphasis added.) Each bond contains also the provision: “It is agreed and understood that this is a continuing bond which shall continue in full force and effect until such time as the undersigned are duly exonerated.”

Section 15-13-112, Ala.Code 1975, a part of the Bail Reform Act, provides that the Alabama Supreme Court “shall prescribe the different forms used for bail bonds and shall publish the forms in the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure.” Among the bail bond forms contained in the “Appendix of Bad Bond Forms” accompanying the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure are an “appearance bond” form (Form CR-11) and a “consolidated appearance bond” form (Form CR-10) very similar to the bonds issued by Coastal in this case. The wording of the consolidated appearance bond form is nearly identical to the wording of the appearance bond form, except that the consolidated bond form contains the following additional provision: '

“It is agreed and understood that this a consolidated bond, eliminating the necessity for multiple bonds and that it shall continue in full force and effect, [436]*436until the defendant appears before the District Court or Circuit Court, whichever has jurisdiction, to answer the above charge, and from time to time thereafter until the defendant is discharged by law, or, until such time as the undersigned sureties are otherwise duly exonerated as provided by law.”

(Form CR-10, “Appendix of Bail bond Forms,” Ala. R.Crim. P.) Thus, a consolidated bond eliminates the necessity for the defendant to post a new bond when he is formally indicted or when the indictment is filed in circuit court and obligates the surety on the bond to secure the appearance of the defendant in the district or circuit court where his case is pending until he is discharged or until the surety is otherwise exonerated according to the law.

Like the terms of the consolidated bond form, Rule 7.6(a), Ala. R.Crim.

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Bluebook (online)
749 So. 2d 433, 1999 Ala. LEXIS 358, 1999 WL 1001215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coastal-bail-bonds-inc-v-state-ala-1999.