P. v. Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc.
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Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc. ("Surety") provided a $100,000 bail bond for a criminal defendant who failed to appear in court as required. The court declared a forfeiture of the bond under Penal Code section 13051 and Surety failed to vacate the forfeiture within the statutorily specified appearance period. Accordingly, the trial court entered summary judgment against Surety in the amount of the bond and court costs.
Surety appealed from the denial of its motion to set aside the summary judgment on the forfeited bond. It argued the trial court prematurely entered summary judgment because an emergency rule adopted by the Judicial Council in response to the Covid-19 pandemic (Emergency Rule 9), which tolled “the statutes of limitations and repose for civil causes of action,” also tolled the appearance period for vacating forfeitures of bail bonds.
The Second Appellate District affirmed the trial court’s order and denied Surety's motion to set aside the summary judgment on the forfeited bond. The court held that the appearance period is not a statute of limitations subject to tolling under Emergency Rule 9. The court reasoned that a motion to set aside bail forfeiture, in which a surety may assert defenses in an existing forfeiture proceeding, is not a pleading that commences a cause of action or special proceeding.
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