County of Yolo v. American Surety Co.

Filed 12/10/19; Certified for publication 12/17/19 (order attached)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Yolo) ----

COUNTY OF YOLO, C087140

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. CV1849)

v.

AMERICAN SURETY COMPANY,

Defendant and Respondent.

Appellant, Yolo County (County), appeals from an order granting respondent’s, American Surety Company (American Surety), motion to set aside the summary judgment and exonerate bail. The County argues Department 8 correctly exercised its discretion under Penal Code section 1305.1 finding, based on counsel’s representations, there might be sufficient excuse for defendant’s failure to appear (statutory section references that follow are to the Penal Code unless otherwise stated). Thus, the trial court retained jurisdiction to declare the bond forfeited when defendant failed to appear two

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weeks later. Accordingly, the County argues Department 13 erred in finding the trial court (Department 8) lacked jurisdiction to forfeit the bond. We find Department 13 erred in setting aside the summary judgment. Department 8 did not abuse its discretion under section 1305.1 to continue the case for a reasonable period of time to enable defendant to appear without ordering a forfeiture of bail. We reverse the order and reinstate the summary judgment. The County is to recover its costs on appeal.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS The People charged defendant Francisco Estrella with numerous felony offenses, including assault with a deadly weapon and shooting at an inhabited dwelling with gang and firearm use enhancements. The trial court set bail at $190,000. On March 25, 2016, American Surety, through its agent Bail Hotline Bail Bonds, posted bond for Estrella’s release. Between March 25, 2016 and August 31, 2016, Estrella appeared at four hearings, April 11, May 18, June 9, and August 17. At the August 17 hearing, the matter was ordered continued to August 31 for a section 995 motion and trial setting conference. Defendant was not present in court on the morning of August 31. The acting public defender, Monica Brushia, was unsure why defendant was not in court, and indicated she thought it was a misunderstanding because defendant had appeared at all his other hearings. Estrella’s regular public defender, Martha Sequeira, was in a different department on another matter and did not have defendant’s telephone number with her, so Department 8 put the matter over to the afternoon to allow Sequeira to try to contact Estrella. Defendant was not present at the continued afternoon hearing. Sequeira informed the court she did not know why defendant was not in court, “but it’s not like him to not be here because he’s made every court appearance. We have a really good working relationship and I just talked to his sister the day before yesterday, . . . not today’s court