Bail bond stole money- money trail-what do I need for small claims success

[northernthorn]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

Hello,

I was arrested for a DUI and Marijuana charge in 2015, my mother was able to get my debt card and make a bond for me with a bonds place in Dallas, TX for $1,750 paid in full. After 2 years of of wrestling the case it was finally over with, the DUI charge was dropped and the DUI charge was sentenced to 9 months probation only under a misdemeanor . Today I called the bail bond company and asked for my money back. They said I was not in their system, upon further investigation they found a folder with my information that said I only paid $375. Before the call i checked my bank account statements and and I found a charge to their company, with a date, the name of the company, a phone number and the amount of $1750.00. They then told me that I need to provide proof and show the receipt of the bond with escrow proof, unfortunately I know longer have this item. I spoke to my attorney and he checked the court documents, he couldn't find anything from the bail bond company in question (which happens to have 3 locations), he mentioned there was no money on each of the bonds and that no information was available, he also mentioned this looked fishy as there is usually some sort of paper trail. He's going to check for me this week and see what he can dig up, i highly doubt anything will happen.

1) Is a bank statement enough to win in small claims court that indeed a payment was transacted and with 2) Court documents showing my bond amount? 3) what else would i need to be successful in my case that I can obtain?

I am about to purchase a house so I need to get my finances in order and I would appreciate any advice or help with this. This will be my first time in small claims court.

 

[latigo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

Hello,

I was arrested for a DUI and Marijuana charge in 2015, my mother was able to get my debt card and make a bond for me with a bonds place in Dallas, TX for $1,750 paid in full. After 2 years of of wrestling the case it was finally over with, the DUI charge was dropped and the DUI charge was sentenced to 9 months probation only under a misdemeanor . Today I called the bail bond company and asked for my money back. They said I was not in their system, upon further investigation they found a folder with my information that said I only paid $375. Before the call i checked my bank account statements and and I found a charge to their company, with a date, the name of the company, a phone number and the amount of $1750.00. They then told me that I need to provide proof and show the receipt of the bond with escrow proof, unfortunately I know longer have this item. I spoke to my attorney and he checked the court documents, he couldn't find anything from the bail bond company in question (which happens to have 3 locations), he mentioned there was no money on each of the bonds and that no information was available, he also mentioned this looked fishy as there is usually some sort of paper trail. He's going to check for me this week and see what he can dig up, i highly doubt anything will happen.

1) Is a bank statement enough to win in small claims court that indeed a payment was transacted and with 2) Court documents showing my bond amount? 3) what else would i need to be successful in my case that I can obtain?

I am about to purchase a house so I need to get my finances in order and I would appreciate any advice or help with this. This will be my first time in small claims court.

What was the amount of the bail set for the two criminal charges? Obviously you didn't have the money to post bail in cash or property or there would be no need for your mother to arrange paying the bonding company to post bail on your behalf.

So, what was the charge or fee for the bonding/surety company posting bail? Because any such fee would not be refundable. And there would be no reason whatsoever for paying the surety more than its fee for that service!

If you cannot provide plausible answers to the above, you'd be wasting time in court. In fact you don't seem to even know whom to sue. You 'll get no where simply suing whom or whatever shows up on your bank statement.

You'd be facing another difficult problem in the nature of what is known as "laches" an unreasonable delay in prosecuting your claim. Designed in part to cover the very trouble you are experiencing in attempting to resurrect and assemble records because of the passage of time.

But the principle issue as I see it is why do you think the bonding company owes you anything. Its illogical to think that it would have been paid more than its nonrefundable fee.

 

[northernthorn]

What was the amount of the bail set for the two criminal charges? Obviously you didn't have the money to post bail in cash or property or there would be no need for your mother to arrange paying the bonding company to post bail on your behalf.

So, what was the charge or fee for the bonding/surety company posting bail? Because any such fee would not be refundable. And there would be no reason whatsoever for paying the surety more than its fee for that service!

If you cannot provide plausible answers to the above, you'd be wasting time in court. In fact you don't seem to even know whom to sue. You 'll get no where simply suing whom or whatever shows up on your bank statement.

You'd be facing another difficult problem in the nature of what is known as "laches" an unreasonable delay in prosecuting your claim. Designed in part to cover the very trouble you are experiencing in attempting to resurrect and assemble records because of the passage of time.

But the principle issue as I see it is why do you think the bonding company owes you anything. Its illogical to think that it would have been paid more than its nonrefundable fee.

Each bond was issued at $375 each for the dui and marijuana charge. My lawyer and I both found that the documents were for that amount from the court. Total of $750 bond set. We aren't sure where the extra $1,000 came from. After speaking with the bond people and my lawyer, these price points don't add up, The bond people state my first sentence. The 750 was not a 10% premium, the bond was paid in the full amount of the court's bond set price. But yet they only have a statement in their folder (why not in the computer system?) for a $375 payment with no notes to state they even went to the court to pay the bond.

Bond agent was JXXX (unknown last name) no longer working there, Bond company was BXXX Owner is XX.


The issue is I now have to find the court document for the total amount to bring with me to small claims if i can find the right documents. Does a bank statement not hold any weight in court?

 

[justalayman]

This makes no sense. If Bond was only $750 total through the courts, why didn’t your mother just pay the court. You use a bondsman when you have to purchase a bond in lieu of paying the full bail amount. The cost is typically 10% of the value of the bond.

Generally if the court offers to carry the bond (some states/courts do. Others don’t) why would you need a bondsman?

You don’t get money refunded by a bondsman. You are PURCHASING the bond which is essentially an insurance policy. Obviously the discrepancy between the $750 and $1750 is a problem. The bondsman also doesnt pay your bail or bond. They submit Proof of our purchasing a bond from an entity that sells bonds.

 

[quincy]

northernthorn, this forum has an attorney from Texas who posts here with some frequency.

Look for a post by "CavemanLawyer." He might be able to make some sense of it all for you.

Good luck.