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.”
