Case Name: The BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BREVARD, etc., Appellant, v. BARBER BONDING AGENCY, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2003-09-26
Citations: 860 So. 2d 10
Docket Number: No. 5D02-3174
Parties: The BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BREVARD, etc., Appellant, v. BARBER BONDING AGENCY, Appellee.
Judges: PALMER, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 860
Pages: 10–18

Head Matter:
The BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BREVARD, etc., Appellant, v. BARBER BONDING AGENCY, Appellee.
No. 5D02-3174.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Sept. 26, 2003.
Rehearing Denied Nov. 24, 2003.
Clifford Repperger, Jr., Assistant County Attorney, Viera, for Appellant.
Robert R. Berry of Eisenmenger, Berry & Peters, P.A., Melbourne, for Appellee.

Opinion:
PLEUS, J.
The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County (County) appeals from an order which granted Barber Bonding Agency's (Barber) motion for remission of 90% of its forfeited bail bond, pursuant to section 903.28(4), Florida Statutes. The County concedes that Barber is entitled to remission under the statute, but it argues the applicable subsection is (6), which permits remission of up to 50% of the forfeited bond. We agree with the able trial judge that subsection (4) applies and affirm the order for remission of 90%.
Section 903.28, Florida Statutes, deals with remission of forfeited bail bonds. Its subsections (2) through (6) are worded identically except for the time periods [90 days, 180 days, 270 days, 1 year and 2 years] and the corresponding maximum amount which can be remitted to the surety for a forfeited bond [100%, 95%, 90%, 85% and 50%].
Section 903.28(4) provides:
If the defendant surrenders or is apprehended within 270 days after forfeiture, the court, on motion at a hearing upon notice having been given to the county attorney and state attorney as required in subsection (8), shall direct remission of up to, but not more than, 90 percent of a forfeiture if the surety apprehended and surrendered the defendant or if the apprehension or surrender of the defendant was substantially procured or caused by the surety, or the surety has substantially attempted to procure or cause the apprehension or surrender of the defendant, and the delay has not thwarted the proper prosecution of the defendant. In addition, remission shall be granted when the surety did not substantially participate or attempt to participate in the apprehension or surrender of the defendant ivhen the costs of returning the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court have been deducted from the remission and when the delay has not thwarted the proper prosecution of the defendant.
(Emphasis added)
Section 903.28(6) has identical language except the time limit is two years and the maximum possible remission is 50%.
The facts in this case are not in dispute. Barber posted a $1,000.00 bail bond for McCloy on September 8, 2000, in a criminal case being prosecuted in the Circuit Court of Brevard County. On January 26, 2001, when McCloy failed to appear, the court forfeited the bond. Barber paid the forfeiture on March 28, 2001.
On August 6, 2001, McCloy was arrested in Dade County, Florida, on different criminal charges than those involved in the Brevard County case. Barber apparently played no part in his apprehension and arrest in Dade County. McCloy remained in the Dade County jail until June 14, 2002, when he was transferred to Brevard County to face the criminal charges underlying this bail bond matter. Barber paid the state's expenses and costs to return McCloy to Brevard County.
The state agreed in its answer that the prosecution of the case against McCloy had not been thwarted by his failure to appear. Indeed, at the hearing held on Barber's motion for remission, the assistant state attorney appeared with the assistant county attorney for the purpose of working out a guilty plea for McCloy. The state did not present any argument that the delay in returning McCloy to the Bre-vard Circuit Court had impeded the prosecution of the case against McCloy in any way. Thus, the requirement of the statute (that the delay has not thwarted the prosecution of the case) was satisfied and is not in issue here.
At the hearing on remission, the County argued that inherent in the language of all of the subsections to section 903.28 is the requirement that the defendant be surrendered to or apprehended in the jurisdiction of the court which approved and forfeited the bond, so that it could be said that the defendant has been returned to "justice," and the status quo breached by the defendant's skipping the jurisdiction has been cured. Thus, since McCloy was not returned to Brevard County until more than one year later, but less than two years since the bond forfeiture, subsection (6) controls and limits the remission to 50%. We disagree.
Parties' rights and remedies regarding discharge of forfeited bonds and remission of part or all of the funds forfeited are currently governed by statutes and the courts are limited by their provisions. Leon County v. Aloi-Williams Bonding Agency, 652 So.2d 464 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Accredited Sur. & Cas. Co. v. Putnam County, 528 So.2d 430 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988); Accredited Sur. and Cas. Co. v. State, 418 So.2d 378 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). Courts say that such statutes should be construed liberally to favor sureties, since justice does not favor forfeiture. Liberal interpretation of such statutes in favor of sureties (1) saves the state the expense and burden of keeping an accused in jail pending trial; (2) promotes an accused's liberty interest consistent with the presumption of innocence; and (3) provides incentives to sureties to offer bails bonds and to pursue those who flee the jurisdiction. See County Bonding Agency v. State, 724 So.2d 131 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998); Leon County.
Surety Continental Heritage Insurance Co. v. Orange County, 798 So.2d 837 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001) provides precedent for the view that section 903.28 only requires that an absconding accused be arrested or apprehended in a different jurisdiction to stop the running of the times in the statute. In that case, a surety located two absconding defendants in Jamaica, caused their arrest, and had done all it could to set in motion extradition proceedings there. However, the authorities in the bailing jurisdiction refused to issue an arrest warrant or to initiate extradition proceedings. The surety filed a motion for remission pursuant to section 903.28 approximately one year after forfeiture of the bail bonds. This court held that the surety was entitled to relief under the remission statute because the surety had substantially attempted to procure the defendant and the state had prevented his being returned to the court's jurisdiction by the state's failure to cooperate. See also County Bonding Agency (.dictum).
In cases in which the prosecution has not been thwarted by the defendant's failure to appear, we hold that the time of the surrender or apprehension of the skipping defendant stops the times running in section 903.28, without regard to whether the apprehension or surrender is in a different or even foreign jurisdiction, or for different criminal charges. Since McCloy was arrested in Dade County within 270 days after the bond was forfeited, subsection (4) applies and allows a maximum remission of 90%.
AFFIRMED.
PALMER, J., concurs.
SHARP, W., dissents, with opinion.
. At the hearing below, the surety offered to present evidence on this matter, but the trial court declined to hear it on the ground that it was not relevant and would make no difference under the wording of the subsection.
. See Surety Continental Heritage Ins. Co. v. Orange County, 798 So.2d 837 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).
. Leon County v. Aloi-Williams Bonding Agency, 652 So.2d 464 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995); Accredited Sur. and Cas. Co., v. State, 418 So.2d 378 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982); 8A Am.Jur.2d Bail and Recognizance § 125.