County of Los Angeles v. American Contractors Indemnity Co.

Opinion

MOSK, J. INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant American Contractors Indemnity Company (American) issued a bail bond for the release of Adolphus Jenkins on a criminal charge. When Jenkins failed to appear, the trial court ordered the bail [177]forfeited. The trial court denied American’s motion to vacate the forfeiture and exonerate the bail, and entered summary judgment. On appeal, American contends that its liability on the bond was extinguished when, prior to the hearing at which Jenkins did not appear, additional criminal charges and a “Three Strikes” law1 allegation were made against Jenkins without notice to American. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

On July 8, 2007, Jenkins was arrested and charged with a violation of Penal Code section 273.5, subdivision (a) (willful infliction of corporal injury on, among others, a cohabitant).2 On July 9, 2007, American posted a $50,000 bail bond for Jenkins’s release. The bond provided that Jenkins had been ordered to appear in court on September 10, 2007, on a charge under section 273.5, subdivision (a). On August 13, 2007, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed a complaint against Jenkins that alleged the section 273.5, subdivision (a) violation, but also added charges that Jenkins failed to register as a sex offender (§ 290, former subd. (a)(1)(A)) and failed to file a change of address (§ 290, former subd. (f)(1)(A)). The complaint also alleged that Jenkins had suffered two prior convictions within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)).3 The complaint included a recommendation that bail be set at $140,000.

At Jenkins’s arraignment on September-10, 2007, the trial court ordered that Jenkins’s bail would “stand.” The prosecutor stated that she did not know the amount of Jenkins’s bail, but pointed out that Jenkins had two prior convictions that were alleged as convictions under the Three Strikes law. The trial court stated, “Well, I looked at the new bail schedule, and there’s a different rule regarding a nonviolent felony versus a violent felony. Violent is $1 million, and non-violent is $100,000. HQ Bail will be set at $50,000. That is the amount of the bail bond.”