COUNTY OF ORANGE v. LEXINGTON NATIONAL INSURANCE CORPORATION
Filed 6/30/06
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION THREE
COUNTY OF ORANGE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. LEXINGTON NATIONAL INSURANCE CORPORATION, Defendant and Appellant. | G035853 (Super. Ct. No. 02WF2761) O P I N I O N |
Appeal from an order and judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, M. Marc Kelly, Judge. Reversed and remanded, with directions.
Law Office of D. Kevin Dunn, D. Kevin Dunn and Karen D. Hill for Defendant and Appellant.
Benjamin P. de Mayo, County Counsel, and Leon J. Page, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
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Lexington National Insurance Corporation (Lexington) appeals the trial court's denial of its motion to exonerate a bail bond and entry of summary judgment against it on forfeiture of the bond.[1] Lexington contends the statutory bail scheme imposes a mandatory duty on the trial court clerk to provide notice of a forfeiture and, when the clerk failed to send notice of an initial forfeiture declared when the bonded defendant missed an appearance, the trial court lost jurisdiction to declare a later forfeiture and enter summary judgment against Lexington. (See Pen. Code, § 1305; subsequent statutory references are to this code unless noted otherwise.) Alternatively, Lexington argues a bail agent it terminated had no authority to â€