P. v. AMERICAN CONTRACTORS
Filed 1/31/06

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION




IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA





FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT





DIVISION THREE






THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

AMERICAN CONTRACTORS INDEMNITY COMPANY,

Defendant and Appellant.
G034799

(Super. Ct. No. 99NF2727)

O P I N I O N


Appeal from a postjudgment order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Daniel J. Didier, Judge. Reversed.

Nunez & Bernstein and E. Alan Nunez for Defendant and Appellant.

Benjamin P. de Mayo, County Counsel, and Wendy J. Phillips, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

* * *

Introduction

The County of Orange (the County) obtained summary judgment on a bail bond forfeiture, and the bail bond company appealed from an order denying a motion to vacate the summary judgment. The California Supreme Court ultimately held the summary judgment was voidable, not void, and the motion to vacate the judgment was untimely.

After the California Supreme Court's opinion issued, the County attempted to enforce the judgment. The bail bond company refused to pay, claiming the two-year limitation period for enforcement of a bail bond forfeiture summary judgment had expired during the pendency of the appeal. (Pen. Code, § 1306, subd. (f).) The bail bond company again moved to set aside the judgment, or alternatively to permanently stay its enforcement. The trial court denied the motion, and this appeal followed.

In County of Orange v. Classified Ins. Corp. (1990) 218 Cal.App.3d 553, a panel of this court concluded an appeal from a summary judgment on a bail bond forfeiture did not automatically stay enforcement of the judgment. We now hold an appeal from an order denying a motion to set aside the summary judgment on a bail bond forfeiture also does not stay the judgment's enforcement. No bond was posted during the period in which the first appeal was pending, so enforcement of the judgment was not stayed and the two-year limitation period expired. Neither equitable nor judicial estoppel supports barring the assertion of the limitation period. Therefore, the trial court should have granted the motion to permanently stay enforcement of the judgment. We reverse.

Statement of Facts

On September 19, 1999, American Contractors Indemnity Company (ACIC) posted bail bond No. AUL-2004418 for the release of Juan Paredez Garcia from custody. On August 7, 2000, Garcia failed to appear for trial and the trial court ordered the bail bond forfeited. The court mailed a notice of forfeiture to ACIC on August 14. On February 15, 2001, the trial court prematurely entered summary judgment on the forfeited bail bond. (The court is authorized to enter summary judgment on a forfeited bail bond 185 days after mailing the notice of forfeiture. (Pen. Code, §§ 1305, 1306, subd. (a).) In this case, the court entered summary judgment one day early.)

On January 7, 2002, ACIC filed a motion to set aside the summary judgment and exonerate bail. The trial court denied the motion on January 29. ACIC appealed â€