### IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT JACKSON Assigned on

Briefs O ctober 1, 2002
IN RE: ALPHA OMEGA BAIL BONDING COM PANY Appeal from the Criminal Court for Shelby County

No. P-25923 EN BANC

No. W2002-00021-CCA-R3-CD - Filed December 6, 2002

The Appellant, Alpha

Omega Bail Bonding Company , is in the business of writing bail bonds. The Appellant was obligated on bonds with AmWest and Far West insurance companiesas sureties. Due to the insolvency of AmWest and F ar West, the Criminal Courtfo r S he lb y Co un ty en banc , ordered the Appellan

t, among others, t o appear before the cour t and pre sent proo f that it ha d suffic ient asse

ts to cover its liabilities on the bonds that were insured by AmWest and Far West. After a hearing, the trial court or

dered th e A ppellant to cause to be re-written each bond that it had wr itten that was
sec ured by A

mWest or F ar West. I

t is from th

is order that the A

ppellant appeals as of right. W e affirm t he judg ment of the

trial cou rt. Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Trial Judge Affirmed
D AVID H. W ELLES , J., delivered the opinio n of the c ourt, in which J AMES C URWOOD W ITT , J R ., J., joined. A LAN E. G LENN , J., n ot par tici patin g.
Ch ar le s D . W ri gh t, Me mp hi s, Te nn es se e, fo r t he ap pe ll an t, Al ph a O me ga Ba il Bo nd Co mp an y.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney Gene ral and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer, Assistant Attorney Genera l; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Kenneth R. Roach, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Te nnessee.
OPINION

The Appellant, Alpha Omega Bail Bonding Compa ny, is in the busi ness of w riting b ail bonds. AmWest and

Far West

insuranc e comp anies appeared as sureties on several of the Appellant’s bonds. The

Criminal Court of Shelby County learned that the bail bonds written throu gh Far West and AmWest would be cancelled due to the insolvency and liquidation of the two insurance companie s. Therefore the court ordered each of the bonding c ompanies that were obligated on bonds
on which AmWe st

and Far West appe ared as sureties , including the Appellant, to appear before the court and pres ent proof

that they had suff icient as sets to co ver the e xtent of the

ir liabilit i es on the-2-

bonds. After a hearin g, the c ourt, sitt ing en ban c , ordered the Appellant and the other bonding companies to re-write each bond that was secured by

AmWest or F ar West within sixty day s. It i s from this o

rder tha t the Appe

llant app eals as o f right

. In its brief, Alpha Omega allege s thatthe trial court exc eeded it s authority b y or dering it to re-write the bail bonds that were secured by the two insolvent and subsequently liquidated insurance companie s. We note at the outset that the Appellant’s brief is inadequate. The brief of an appellant shall contain

“citations to the authorities and appropriate referenc es to the record.” Tenn. R. App. P. 27(a)(7). “I ssues which are not supported by argument, citation to authorities , or appro priate references to the re cord will be trea ted as wa ived in thiscourt.” Tenn. R. Cr im. App. 10(b). The Appellant fails to cite a single case, statute, rule or regulation in support of its argument. L ikewise, the Appellant neglects to refer to the re cord even once throughout the entire brief. Because the Appellant cites no a uthority to support

its argument, we assume it found none. Howeve r, rather than treat the issue as w aived, w e will disp ose of the Appellan t’s arg ument on itsmerits.

“A trial cou

rt has fu ll authori

t y to det ermine w

ho should b e allowe d to make b onds in its court.” Hull v. Stat

e , 543 S.W.2d 611, 612 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1976) (citi ng Gilbreath v. Ferguson , 195 Tenn. 528 , 260 S.W.2d 2 76 (1953) ); see also Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-11-305, -306. In addition, it is the tria

l court’sfunction

to regulate the p

rofess io nal bondsm

en that e xecute bonds in its court, and it may impose rea sonable limitations on the total liability of such bondsmen’s undertakings in that court. Further, a tria l court has the inherent power to administ

er its af fairs, including the right to impose reasonable regula tions regar ding the making o f bonds.

Hull at 612 (citations omitted). The fact that the legislature has e nacted certain statutes concerning the regulation of bail bondsmen does nothing to diminish the trial court’s inher ent power s of regulationto act in addition to the statutes. See Taylor v. Waddey , 206 Tenn. 497, 504, 334 S.W.2d 733, 736 (1960 ). There fore, “ the trial

court is g

iven wide

discreti on in its r

egulation of bail bondsmen and its actions will not be overturned absent a showing that they were arbitrary , capricious or illegal.” In re I

nternational Fid. Ins. Co. , 989 S.W.2d 726, 728 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1998).

In this case , the cri m inal cou rt of S helby Cou nty, sit ting en banc , was wel l within its discretion in ord ering t he Appellan t to re-write the bonds on which Far West and AmWest were insurer s. The record reflects that the Appellant has almost 3.5 million dollars in liability in Shelby Co un ty. Lodean Glenn, the owner of the Appellant company , admitted to the trial court that Alpha Omega did not

have sufficient assets to cover its exposure. Furthermore, Mr . Glenn stated that he
was willing to have his bonds re-written. The record contains an affidavit from the executive vice president of American Safety

Casualty I

nsurance Company , which a lready underwr ites bail bonds for the Appellant. The affidavit expresses American Safety ’s willingness to re-write bonds for the Appellant that had previously bee

n secured by A mWest and F ar West. Based on our review of the record, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by ordering theAppellant to have-3-

the bonds so re -written . The tria l court ha s a duty to e nsure that the bail bondsmen who appear before it are able to cover their liabilities. By ordering the bonds to be re-written, the cour t was fu lf il li ng it s d ut y.
The judgment of the Criminal Court of Shelby County is affirmed.

___________________________________ DAVID H. WEL

LES, JUDGE