Ranger Ins. Co. v. Pierce County

158 P.3d 1231
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedMay 22, 2007
Docket34729-6-II
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 158 P.3d 1231 (Ranger Ins. Co. v. Pierce County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ranger Ins. Co. v. Pierce County, 158 P.3d 1231 (Wash. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

158 P.3d 1231 (2007)

RANGER INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant,
v.
PIERCE COUNTY, State of Washington and Pierce County Superior Court Clerk, Respondents.

No. 34729-6-II.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 2.

May 22, 2007.

*1232 Brett Andrews Purtzer, Tacoma, WA, for Appellant.

Douglas Warren Vanscoy, Deputy Pros Atny, Glen Andrew Anderson, Office of the *1233 Attorney General, Tacoma, WA, Respondents.

VAN DEREN, A.C.J.

¶ 1 This is the second appeal in Ranger Insurance Company's suit against Pierce County based on the Superior Court Clerk's distribution of Ranger Insurance Company's bail bond money for Granite State Insurance Company's bail bond obligations. In the first appeal, we remanded for trial on whether, in light of the limiting power of attorney accompanying each bond, the Superior Court Clerk (Clerk) properly relied on the dual agent's own representations to apply and disburse Ranger's funds for Granite State's obligations. On remand, the trial court granted summary judgment to Pierce County, finding that the Clerk did not violate the standard of care for court clerks in Washington. Ranger appeals, contending that disputes of material fact still exist about whether (1) the Clerk's conduct was negligent in light of the express limiting powers of attorney on each bond; and (2) the Clerk could rely solely on the agent's known representation of multiple bonding companies in the absence of Ranger's actions suggesting apparent authority to use Ranger's money for another bonding company's obligations. Because the County's summary judgment motion did not address this issue of material fact, we reverse and remand again for trial.

FACTS[1]

¶ 2 Ranger Insurance Company's agent, Signature Bail Bonds, was an authorized bail bonds agent for both Ranger and Granite State. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *1, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *1. Signature wrote four appearance bonds in Pierce County to secure the appearance of two criminal defendants, David J. Rogers and Brandon E. Sims. Signature wrote one of the bonds ($15,000) on cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X from Ranger and the other three (a total of $20,000) from Granite State for cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X for Rogers, and cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X for Sims.

¶ 3 All four of the bonds were forfeited because Rogers and Sims failed to appear. Signature directed Ranger to send $35,000 to the clerk's registry to cover Rogers' forfeited bonds, misrepresenting to Ranger that two of its own bonds had been forfeited—the aforementioned $15,000 Ranger bond on cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X and a $20,000 Ranger bond on cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X that had not been forfeited. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *2, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *4. The actual status of the Ranger and Granite State bonds was as follows:

1997 Rogers  XX-X-XXXXX-X  $15,000  Ranger Ins.   Forfeited
1997 Rogers  XX-X-XXXXX-X  $10,000  Granite St.   Forfeited
1998 Rogers  XX-X-XXXXX-X  $20,000  Ranger Ins.   Not Forfeited
2000 Sims    XX-X-XXXXX-X  $ 5,800  Granite Ins.  Forfeited
2000 Sims    XX-X-XXXXX-X  $ 4,200  Granite Ins.  Forfeited

Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *1, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *2.

¶ 4 It is not refuted that Ranger submitted, along with the check, an invoice requesting that the clerk's office allocate $20,000 to Rogers cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X, which was not forfeited, and $15,000 to Rogers cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X, which was later forfeited. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *2, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *4.[2] Furthermore, Ranger's $35,000 check to the Clerk referred to "State v. David Jack Rogers, Case No. 98-1-03952-5." Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *2, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS *1234 1894, at *5. The Clerk entered the check for cause no. 98-1-03952-5 in the Pierce County Superior Court journal detail report as "cash bail." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 74. "The [C]lerk's actions were clearly in error, as Signature had previously posted a Ranger appearance bond for cause no. 98-1-03952-5." Ranger Ins, 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *2, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *5. Ranger had not posted any bonds for Sims.

¶ 5 Not only did Ranger direct that the $35,000 be used only for its obligations, but each of Ranger's bail bonds have a corresponding power of attorney certificate, which state:

This power void if altered or erased, void if used with other powers of this company or in combination with powers from any other surety company, void if used to furnish bail in excess of the stated face amount of this power, and can only be used once . . . and provided this Power-of-Attorney is filed with the bond and retained as a part of the court records.

CP at 15 (our emphases added).

¶ 6 After the Clerk received Ranger's instructions, Signature's manager[3] directed the Clerk to apply Ranger's $35,000 check to cover Rogers' forfeited bond under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X ($15,000), Rogers' Granite State forfeited bond under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X ($10,000), and Sims' two forfeited bonds under cause number XX-X-XXXXX-X ($10,000). The Clerk did as Signature directed. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash. App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, *2, 2004 Wash. App. LEXIS 1894, at *5-6.

¶ 7 When Rogers and Sims were arrested, Signature filed to exonerate the forfeited bail moneys, "falsely stat[ing] that it, not Ranger, had paid the forfeited bonds." Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *6. Based on Signature's misrepresentations, the trial court entered orders directing the Clerk to return the forfeited bail money to Signature. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *7. The Clerk disbursed the $35,000 to Signature. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash. App. LEXIS 1894, at *7 n. 2. But Signature never returned the money to Ranger. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *7.

¶ 8 On January 16, 2002, Ranger sued Pierce County, alleging that the Clerk was negligent in two ways: (1) disbursing Ranger's $20,000 for bonds written by Granite State;[4] and (2) returning the forfeiture money to Signature, not Ranger. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash.App. LEXIS 1894, at *7. The County moved for summary judgment, arguing that (1) Ranger was bound by the acts of its agent, Signature, and (2) the Clerk was entitled to quasi-judicial immunity. The trial court granted the County's summary judgment motion. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at *3, 2004 Wash. App. LEXIS 1894, at *8.

¶ 9 Without reaching any remaining or potential issues that were not before us, including those relating to the Clerk's fiduciary responsibilities to persons required to pay money to its registry, we reversed for trial on the limited issues before us, concluding that (1) questions of material fact remained about whether, in light of the power of attorney accompanying each bond, Signature had apparent authority to receive money due Ranger that had been applied to Granite State's obligations; and (2) the Clerk did not have quasi-judicial immunity in handling Ranger's bail money because processing the money was a ministerial act. Ranger Ins., 122 Wash.App. 1077, 2004 WL 1834650, at **3, 7, 8, 2004 Wash.App.

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
158 P.3d 1231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ranger-ins-co-v-pierce-county-washctapp-2007.