Prior to his work at Curtis Legal Group, Glenn represented and defended insurance companies. While some insurance companies blatantly dispute or deny valid insurance claims for profit, others have employed the tactic of trying to get you to settle an insurance claim for far less than what your claim may actually be worth. Our commercial property claims insurance lawyers help businesses get paid for their losses. The U.S. and the Philippines are the only countries with a commercial bail industry (although other countries may use a bail system). Commercial bail bonding is illegal in Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin and Kentucky. In some cases, bail may be waived altogether, which we’ll discuss later in the article. In some cases, an officer will not book a suspect at all but will instead issue a citation saying that the accused must appear in court. In these cases, the court gets a lien (essentially a legal claim) on the property in the amount of the bail. If the defendant skips a court date, the bail agent, and even the family or friends of the defendant, might seek out a bounty hunter, assuming it’s legal in that state. Make sure you have all important papers and documents with you – ID, insurance policies, wills – as well as all medications you take or might need.
If you are in need of a bail bondsman, you can find listings in local phonebooks. In this article, we’ll learn about those safeguards, how the bail process works and how this system has changed since it was first started in England centuries ago. While this process is less thorough than taking a suspect to a police station and performing the formal booking procedure, it allows the arresting officer to focus on catching more serious offenders. A judge may also choose to release a suspect on his own recognizance, meaning that he is responsible for showing up for court dates and does not have to pay bail. Cash bail means that the accused pays the full amount of bail in cash. A bail agent is backed by a special type of insurance company called a surety company and pledges to pay the full value of the bond if the accused doesn’t appear in court. Because bondsmen are liable for the bail bond amount, and the police can’t always find their man (or woman), many bondsmen hire a professional bounty hunter – or bail enforcement agent, as they prefer to be called – to track down “skips.” The bounty hunter tracks down the bail jumper, arrests him, and collects a fee of 10 percent to 20 percent of the bail bond.
In return, the bail agent charges his client a 10 percent premium and collects some sort of collateral (i.e. a title to a house, car or boat, or jewelry or electronics). The bail agent’s bond is also at stake, and if the defendant doesn’t appear in court (known as skipping or jumping bail), then it will be the agent who’s responsible for paying the entire bond. The court hopes that the defendant will show up for his or her court dates in order to recover the bail. In all likelihood, he will be, since he has a vested interested in making sure his clients show up for their court dates. If the defendant doesn’t show up for his court appearances, the court can foreclose on the property to recover the forfeited bail. In determining bail, a judge may take into account this amount but will also consider the defendant’s (bailee) criminal record (if any), his or her history of showing up for past court appearances, ties to the community, whether the suspect is a danger to others and any other concerns that may be raised by the defendant’s attorney. The police officer conducts a criminal background check, takes the suspect’s fingerprints and mugshot and seizes and inventories any personal property, which will be returned when the suspect is released.
Finally, an officer puts the suspect in a jail cell, usually with other recently booked suspects. And the person would also be missing his or her life – family events, holidays, etc. Not everyone who is released on bail is eventually acquitted, so to prevent particular dangerous suspects from being released, several safeguards have been built into bail law. For less serious crimes, a suspect may be allowed to post bail immediately after being booked. By getting a friend or relative involved, the bail agent hopes that the defendant feels compelled to appear in court, since this friend or relative is probably paying the bail agent’s premium and has collateral on the line. Technically, the defendant is in his custody and is his responsibility. Sometimes a defendant can provide some property to act as a bond. Injuries and illnesses can happen to anyone at any time. By implementing these preventive measures, you can save yourself from unnecessary expenses and protect your home from potential water damage disasters. Having a property damage lawyer working with you increases your chances of winning the case and receiving the maximum benefit you are owed.