LAWSON v. BEATY
This text of 2020 OK CIV APP 8 (LAWSON v. BEATY) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
LAWSON v. BEATY
2020 OK CIV APP 8
458 P.3d 1114
Case Number: 116939
Decided: 01/23/2020
Mandate Issued: 02/19/2020
DIVISION I
THE COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA, DIVISION I
Cite as: 2020 OK CIV APP 8, 458 P.3d 1114
JAMES LAWSON, d/b/a LAWSON BAIL BONDS, Plaintiff/Appellant,
v.
VICKI BEATY, SEQUOYAH COUNTY DISTRICT COURT CLERK, Defendant/Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF
SEQUOYAH COUNTY, OKLAHOMA
HONORABLE MIKE NORMAN, JUDGE
AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART
S. Stephen Barnes, BARNES LAW OFFICE, Wewoka, Oklahoma, and Brendon Bridges, BRIDGES LAW FIRM, Eufaula, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff/Appellant,
N. Jack Thorp, District Attorney, Jacob Howell, Assistant District Attorney, SEQUOYAH COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Sallisaw, Oklahoma, for Defendant/Appellee.
¶1 Plaintiff/Appellant, James Lawson, appeals from the trial court's order granting in part and denying in part his petition for injunctive relief against Defendant/Appellee, Vicki Beaty, the District Court Clerk of Sequoyah County. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
¶2 Plaintiff is the owner/manager of Lawson Bail Bonds, located in Poteau, LeFlore County. He is licensed by the Oklahoma Insurance Commission as a "Multicounty Agent Bondsman." In August 2017, Plaintiff filed the instant action for injunctive relief, alleging Defendant wrongfully (1) refused to publish Plaintiff's name and telephone number with the list of other bondsmen doing business in Sequoyah County, and (2) requires each Multicounty Agent Bondsman who does not have an office situated in Sequoyah County to file a letter of good standing from their home county each time the bondsman executes a bond in Sequoyah County. Plaintiff asserts any letter of good standing is considered by Defendant to be valid for only forty-eight (48) to seventy-two (72) hours after issuance. Because a letter of good standing can only be obtained during the business hours of his "home county" court clerk, Plaintiff urges his Sequoyah County clients are forced to either stay in jail until Plaintiff's "home county" court clerk's office opens or retain the services of another bondsman.
¶3 Central to Plaintiff's claims is §1306.1(D) of the Oklahoma Bail Bondsmen Act, 59 O.S. 2011 §1301 et seq. Pursuant to that subsection, a Multicounty Agent Bondsman is authorized "to execute bail bonds within any county in the State of Oklahoma." Furthermore, nothing in the Act or Insurance Commission regulations require a Multicounty Agent Bondsman to submit a letter of good standing from his/her own county before executing a bond in any other county. Finally, Plaintiff asserts the Oklahoma Insurance Commission maintains a list of bondsmen who are in good standing and authorized to execute bonds state-wide that can be accessed via the internet twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week.
¶4 Defendant testified at the injunction hearing that she relies on a court clerk handbook issued by the Oklahoma Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in requiring a letter of good standing from the bondman's home county. The handbook specifically states, "The Court Clerk is urged to require a Letter of Good Standing from the 'mother' county in which the bondsman is registered before allowing a bondsman to write bonds in the county." Defendant conceded that her office had the capability to access bondsman information from the Insurance Commissioner's website.
¶5 At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiff's requested relief. The trial court granted Plaintiff's request that his name and telephone number be published with the list of local bondsmen. However, the court denied Plaintiff's request for injunctive relief prohibiting Defendant from requiring a letter of good standing from Multicounty Agent Bondsmen at the time of executing each bond in Sequoyah County. From the denial of his latter request, Plaintiff now appeals. This appeal proceeds as an appeal from an interlocutory order appealable by right pursuant to 12 O.S. Supp. 2013 §993(A)(2) (order denying injunction) and Oklahoma Supreme Court Rule 1.60, 12 O.S. Supp. 2013, Ch. 15, App. 1.
¶6 In Sharp v. 251st St. Landfill, Inc., 1996 OK 109, 925 P.2d 546, the Court reiterated the standard of review to be utilized here:
Granting or denying injunctive relief is generally within the sound discretion of the trial court and a judgment issuing or refusing to issue an injunction will not be disturbed on appeal unless the lower court has abused its discretion or the decision is clearly against the weight of the evidence. In reviewing the matter, we are not bound by the findings or reasoning of a trial court, but we must consider, examine and weigh all the evidence.
Id. at ¶4 (citations and parentheticals omitted).
¶7 As Plaintiff correctly points out, the AOC handbook relied upon by Defendant is outdated. The handbook page at issue stated not only that court clerks should require a Letter of Good Standing each time an out-of-county bondman writes a bond, it also advises court clerks that a bondsman can write no more than ten (10) bonds per county per year outside of his or her home county. According to a notation at the bottom of the subject handbook page, the handbook - or at least that particular page - was last revised in September 2007. The statutory classification of a Multicounty Agent Bondsman was created by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2014. See, e.g., Laws 2014, c. 53, §1, eff.
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