I have, once again, run this ship as far aground as possible. Any assistance on the matter would be most appreciated.

I have 2 nisis on the same person after she FTA’d.
The surety filed an answer in each case with the clerk, but failed to serve us.
The defendant was returned to custody, again without contact or assistance from the surety.
I sent the surety an offer containing the statutory amounts owed – court costs, transport, and interest. Even after multiple calls, nothing from the surety.
The cases were set for court, and notice of setting sent by certified mail. The settings were signed for by illegible printed name. Nothing in response from the surety.
No one showed on behalf of the surety.
I now have two default judgments in the full amount of the bonds made (75k and 20k), that were signed 3 months ago. I have still heard nothing from the surety.

The court’s power has expired, and as best as I understand after 90 days a motion for new trial cannot be filed.

Assuming a SBOR is filed, does the exoneration period still apply?

For what it’s worth, I’m not overly interested in making it easy for this particular bondsman. He has another case with an almost identical timeline pending. The difference is that in the interim of the FTA and the nisis being signed, the defendant was returned to custody out of county and unbeknownst to us. The surety filed an answer while the defendant was in jail elsewhere, without mention of that fact.

Thanks.

This doesn't quite answer your question, but might help in dealing with the surety. I see online that Washington County is a bail bond board county, which means that Ch. 1704, Occupations Code applies. Under 1704.204, the surety must pay the amount of the judgment not later than the 31st day after the judgment becomes final. If they don't, the statute says the judgment shall be paid from their security deposit. At that point, with 95k plus costs, they will likely have exhausted their security deposit and be unable to write any further bonds.

There are also some annotations in the TDCAA edition of the CCP that address exactly what may have to be shown in an SBOR. Those notes seem to exclude the surety re-urging their exoneration defense.

quote:

Originally posted by bkaminar:
I see online that Washington County is a bail bond board county

This is in our other county which is not a bail bond board county.

I'll grab a coworker's TDCAA book and check. I hadn't thought to see if there were different notes over there. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by DerekE:
This is in our other county which is not a bail bond board county.

Well, that certainly throws a wrench in things. If the surety is an agent for an insurance company, you can always try notifying the Department of Insurance of the defaults, but it sounds like it's a property bondsman. In that case, you could try postjudgment discovery to locate assets and then obtain a writ of execution.

Ooh, looking back through the CCP again and noticed part of Art. 17.l1. So long as that surety is in default, the surety is disqualified from signing as a surety on another bond. It is the duty of the court clerk to notify the sheriff of the default. That should give you an alternate method of shutting down his bonding operations until he cures.