County of Los Angeles v. National Automobile & Casualty Insurance

79 Cal. Rptr. 2d 5, 67 Cal. App. 4th 271, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7856, 98 Daily Journal DAR 10886, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 872
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 16, 1998
DocketB107900
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 79 Cal. Rptr. 2d 5 (County of Los Angeles v. National Automobile & Casualty Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
County of Los Angeles v. National Automobile & Casualty Insurance, 79 Cal. Rptr. 2d 5, 67 Cal. App. 4th 271, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7856, 98 Daily Journal DAR 10886, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 872 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

*274 Opinion

MASTERSON, J.

Under Penal Code sections 1305 and 1306, once a criminal defendant’s bail has been forfeited and he has remained at large for more than 180 days, summary judgment may be entered against the surety of the bail. In this case, a motion requesting that the 180-day period be tolled was filed before the 180 days had expired, but was granted afterward. Summary judgment was then entered. The trial court denied the surety’s subsequent motion to set aside the summary judgment, even though it had been entered during the period contemplated by the tolling order. We do not reach the issue of whether summary judgment may be entered during a tolling period. Rather, we find that the trial court had no jurisdiction to order tolling once the 180-day period had expired. For this reason, we hold that the surety’s motion to set aside the summary judgment was properly denied.

Background

On June 17, 1995, the bail agent of appellant National Automobile & Casualty Insurance Company (National) posted a $30,000 bail bond for the release of Humberto Azora Bazur in the matter of People v. Bazur (Super. Ct. L.A. County, 1995, No. KA027813). Bazur failed to appear for arraignment on July 11, 1995, and his bail was ordered forfeited. Notice of the forfeiture was mailed on July 19, 1995. Less than 180 days later, on January 10, 1996, National filed a “motion to toll time for surety agent investigators to apprehend and return defendant to custody of the court where he fled.” More than 180 days after the mailing of the notice of forfeiture, on February 8, 1996, the motion was granted, and the 180-day period was ordered tolled until May 8, 1996.

On March 28, 1996, the executive officer/clerk of the superior court filed a request to enter summary judgment on the forfeiture of Bazur’s bail, bearing the caption County of Los Angeles v. National (Super. Ct. L.A. County, 1996, No. BS038565). The request was supported by a declaration setting forth the above chronology of events, including the order tolling the 180-day period. On April 1, 1996, the request was granted, and summary judgment on the bail bond forfeiture was entered in favor of the County of Los Angeles (the County). National later moved to set the summary judgment aside, arguing that it had been prematurely entered. On November 27, 1996, National’s motion was denied. This appeal followed. 1

*275 Discussion

1. Statutory Scheme

The trial court is required to declare a forfeiture of bail when the defendant fails to appear in court without a sufficient excuse. (Pen. Code, § 1305, subd. (a) (all further section references are to the Penal Code).) The court is also required to cause notice of the forfeiture to be mailed to the bail agent within 30 days thereafter. (§ 1305, subd. (b).* 2 ) If, inter alia, the defendant appears, is surrendered to custody, or is arrested in the underlying case within 180 days of the date of mailing the notice, the court must vacate the order of forfeiture and exonerate the bond on its own motion. (§ 1305, subd. (c)(l)-(3).) An order of forfeiture may also be vacated on motion. (§ 1305, subd. (c)(4).) “A motion [to vacate forfeiture] filed in a timely manner within.the 180-day period may be heard within 30 days of the expiration of the 180-day period.” {Ibid.) Also, the 180-day period may be tolled if the defendant is unable to appear during that time because of “temporary disability” by reason of illness, insanity or detention by military or civilian authorities. (§ 1305, subd. (e).)

“When any bond is forfeited and the period of time specified in Section 1305 has elapsed without the forfeiture being set aside, the court. . . shall enter a summary judgment against [the] bondsman. . . .” (§ 1306, subd. (a) .) “If, because of the failure of any court to promptly perform the duties enjoined upon it pursuant to this section, summary judgment is not entered within 90 days after the date upon which it may first be entered, the right to do so expires and the bail is exonerated.” (§ 1306, subd. (c).) Once summary judgment has been entered, the district attorney or county counsel is required to demand payment within 30 days after finality of the judgment and enforce the judgment if payment is not made within 20 days after the demand. (§ 1306, subd. (e).)

As in People v. Topa Ins. Co. (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 296, 300 [38 Cal.Rptr.2d 167], “This case is controlled by [sections 1305 and 1306], the provisions of which ‘must be strictly followed or the court acts without or in *276 excess of its jurisdiction. [Citation.] . . . [1D The course set out in a jurisdictional statute must be precisely followed or the court loses jurisdiction and its actions are void. [Citation.]’ [Citations.] ‘It is well established in the case law that Penal Code sections 1305 and 1306 are subject to precise and strict construction. . . . “ ‘[W]here a statute requires a court to exercise its jurisdiction in a particular manner, follow a particular procedure, or subject to certain limitations, an act beyond those limitations is in excess of its jurisdiction.’ [Citations.]” ’ [Citation.]”

2. Analysis

In proceedings before the trial court, the court and counsel assumed that the 180-day period had been tolled by virtue of the order of February 8, 1996. Nonetheless, summary judgment was entered in favor of the County during the tolling period. The most likely reason for this seeming incongruity stems from an observation made in County of Los Angeles v. American Bankers Ins. Co., supra, 44 Cal.App.4th 792.

In County of Los Angeles v. American Bankers Ins. Co., supra, 44 Cal.App.4th 792, the 180-day period expired on February 21, 1994. The bail agent filed a motion to vacate the forfeiture three days late, on February 24, with hearing set for March 15, 1994. The trial court was prepared to entertain the motion on March 15. However, the defendant failed to appear and the trial court “ ‘further tolled’ ” the 180-day period to April 22, 1994. When the defendant failed to appear at the April 22 hearing, the court ordered bail to remain forfeited, (Id. at p. 794.) Summary judgment on the forfeiture was entered on July 12, 1994, i.e., within 90 days of the April 22 order denying the motion to vacate forfeiture, but more than 90 days after the February 21 expiration of the 180-day period in which to vacate forfeiture..

The County of Los Angeles v. American Bankers Ins. Co., supra, 44 Cal.App.4th 792, court concluded that, because the bail agent’s motion was filed three days after the 180-day period had expired, “no hearing on such motion should have been held on March 15, 1994, in the first place, and the court lacked jurisdiction to continue the motion to April 22, 1994. [Citation].” (44 Cal.App.4th at p. 797.) Accordingly, when summary judgment on the forfeiture was entered on July 12, 1994, “the trial court lacked jurisdiction and the forfeiture was void.” (Ibid.)

The

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79 Cal. Rptr. 2d 5, 67 Cal. App. 4th 271, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7856, 98 Daily Journal DAR 10886, 1998 Cal. App. LEXIS 872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/county-of-los-angeles-v-national-automobile-casualty-insurance-calctapp-1998.