Court Opinion

ID: 9521087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:56:45.086369+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:47:36.975674
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE BARRY, dissenting: The majority opinion summarizes the state of the law on this subject, reciting not only what is the law, but also what has been the law for a very long time. Nevertheless, I believe the majority decision is incorrect in the light of our recent opinion in People v. Cox (3d Dist. 1977), 48 Ill. App. 3d 499, 363 N.E.2d 389. In Cox we decided that the State can, in effect, garnishee any bail bond moneys put up by a defendant, less costs, to pay a debt owing the State. The debt in that case resulted when the defendant failed to appear in court after posting a bail bond. Subsequently, after having another bail bond posted for him by his mother, the defendant appeared in court, thereby satisfying the bond. The second bail bond deposit, less costs, was attached by the court system to satisfy, in part, the amount due and owing by the defendant for breaching the initial bond. We reached this result in spite of the evidence that the defendant’s mother had put up the second bail bond deposit for the defendant. Furthermore, it is a well-recognized practice in this State that an attorney, to assure the collection of fees in a criminal case, will accept an assignment of the defendant’s bail bond deposit, less costs, which is usually honored by the circuit clerk. Unfortunately for the defendant’s mother in the Cox case, she was given no written assignment of the bail bond deposit by the defendant. I do not suggest that the Cox case would have been decided otherwise had such an assignment existed, but we certainly would have faced a greater problem in determining the priorities of the creditors. My argument, in short, is that if the State, by its court system, can step in and attach the bail bond deposit, so can a private creditor. The majority’s conclusion that to allow private creditors to garnish bail bond money in the hands of the circuit clerk would undermine the purpose of a bail bond is no less applicable if the State takes the money. Nor is ease of administration a sufficient reason for denying a creditor a remedy. If more than one creditor lays claim to the funds, certainly the circuit clerks can use an interpleader action to allow the courts to decide the priorities of the creditors. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1975, ch. 110, par. 26.2.) Otherwise, if the creditor has a judgment, the circuit clerk, having only a ministerial function, cannot challenge a judicial determination from any court. Absent a judgment in favor of a creditor or an assignment by the defendant, certainly the circuit clerk would return the deposit, less costs, to the defendant. The majority has suggested that this would “frequently bring different judicial tribunals into collision with each other.” However, Illinois is supposed to have a statewide, unified judicial system. In theory, there is supposed to be some communication and cooperation among the circuits. For the most part, such communication and cooperation exists, and therefore, I doubt that the prophesied catastrophic “collision” will occur. Given these reasons and our decision in Cox, I would have reversed the judgment of the circuit court of Rock Island County.