P. v. Financial Casualty & Surety CA4/1
Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc., acting through its agent Bail Hotline Bail Bonds (collectively Surety), posted a bond to secure the pretrial release of Christopher B. Trujeque, who failed to appear at a subsequent readiness hearing. The bond was forfeited, and the court entered summary judgment against Surety. On appeal, Surety asks us to set aside the summary judgment, vacate the forfeiture, and exonerate bail because the court used a constitutionally inadequate process to set Trujeque’s bail, rendering the penalty clause of the bail contract void. Specifically, Surety relies on In re Humphrey (2018) 19 Cal.App.5th 1006 (Humphrey I) to allege it was constitutional error to set Trujeque’s bail without considering his ability to pay or the availability of less restrictive alternatives to money bail. But as multiple courts have held, any Humphrey error in setting bail does not affect the enforceability of the bond.
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