Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Government Must Notify Bail Bond of Material Modification of Bond Conditions

A bail bond company is not liable for any material modifications of the bond’s conditions without actual notice by the court first

United States v. Mohammed-Ali, 2016 BL 156093, 6th Cir., No. 15-6003, 5/17/16.

   Constructive notice of a change in a bond’s conditions is not sufficient for a bail bond agency to be liable.  Actual notice of a change in conditions by a company is both fair and practical, the court noted, further stating that it was “unrealistic to expect a bail bond company to constantly sift through every motion in all its cases to check whether a bond’s conditions have been altered.” Moreover, the burden of notice is better placed on some other party, including the court, defendant, or prosecutor. In enforcing a bond’s liability, the court must send actual notice by mail, a benefit that should be extended to bail bond companies when “a motion that leads to the condition…creates the bail bond’s liability in the first place.”




No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.