Waiver of a statutory bond or commitment requirement in California

The subject of this article is a court order that waives a legal bond or pledge requirement in California. While that may sound unbelievable, the fact is that California courts have the power to waive the posting of a bond or pledge, in whole or in part, even if required to do so by a particular statute. That could be very advantageous in certain situations, as even a reduction in the amount of the bond or commitment required may allow a poor litigant to continue with his claim.

The California Supreme Court has stated in one case, “In a long series of cases … our court has explained that, despite the apparent mandatory nature of a variety of statutes requiring the payment of litigation fees, courts of California retain a common law authority to waive such fees in the case of poor litigants.”

If an injunction is granted, an undertaking is required pursuant to subdivision a of section 529 of the Code of Civil Procedure. However, a trial court does in fact have discretion to relieve an indigent plaintiff who is unable to post an injunctive bond under section 529.

A waiver of a bail bond may be easier to obtain than a waiver of other bail bonds, as it can very well be argued that allowing a waiver of a bail bond is even stronger than allowing a waiver of a cost bail, because with a restraining order bond a litigant who is released from a commitment has already prevailed on any substantive issue before the trial court, so there is less chance that the opposing party will be harmed by any waiver of the bond requirement.

It should be noted that a California Court of Appeals has also ruled that courts are not required to waive commitment requirements for indigent litigants in all cases.

The common law authority of the courts to waive bail, either in whole or in part, has been codified by the California legislature pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 995.240.

A California litigant who has obtained a fee waiver order from the court has a much better chance of obtaining a waiver or substantial reduction of the statutory bond requirement. In one case, a California Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit for failing to file an undertaking required by California law because the plaintiff resided out of state. In reversing the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claim, the Court of Appeal held that because the plaintiff had obtained a fee waiver order, the trial court acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to cancel or reduce the amount of the company.

To view the full text of any of the code sections cited in this article or any other California code section, use the link below.

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml

Anyone requesting a waiver or reduction of a statutory bond requirement must state in their supporting statement sufficient specific facts to support their request, as failure to do so may result in a denial of their application on the grounds that any statement is conclusive and unsubstantiated. enough specific facts. to support your request.

The author sincerely hopes that you have enjoyed this article and found it informative. If you enjoyed this article, please tell others about it.

To be honest,
Stan Burman