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A California bail bonds agency is being accused of violating state consumer laws by failing to fully disclose the financial responsibilities bond cosigners take on, according to a new class action lawsuit.
Kiara Caldwell says she was rushed, pressured and misled about the agreement she was asked to sign to help get her friend out of jail two years ago and BBBB Bonding Corporation should be held accountable. She filed a class action lawsuit against the company, which does business as Bad Boys Bail Bonds in San Jose, and “Does 1-10” in California Superior Court on Oct. 26. The “Does” refer to the unnamed agents of Bad Boys who initiated her involvement in the bonding process and then repeatedly tried to collect payments from her later.
The matter began when a representative of Bad Boys Bail Bonds called Caldwell in June 2018 saying her friend had been arrested and needed $1,000 to post bail. Caldwell says she told the bail bondsman that she didn’t have that much money, and the bondsman suggested she come to his office “sign some paperwork that would allow [her friend] to be released,” the class action lawsuit claims.
Caldwell, a security guard who was also attending college, was operating on a very limited budget, but was concerned about her close friend and wanted to do whatever she could to help, she says. She went to the Bad Boys Bail Bonds office and met with the representative who had called her, the class action states. He explained that if Caldwell signed on, she could get her friend released for just $500.
The Bad Boys representative told Caldwell the agreement she would sign would require her friend to pay the amount of her financed bail bond “either with lower monthly installments if [she] came to the office with $500 in cash after her release, or with higher monthly installments if she didn’t,” the class action lawsuit claims. After her release from jail, Caldwell’s friend would have to come to the Bad Boys Bail Bonds office to sign her copies of the agreement, Caldwell says she was told.
“Had Bad Boys explained that Ms. Caldwell’s obligation as a cosigner included a financial obligation for the full financed bail bond premium of $4,500, Ms. Caldwell would not have agreed to cosign or provide an initial payment,” her class action lawsuit claims.
Caldwell says the Bad Boys representative pressured her to sign three documents as part of their credit bail agreement and “rushed through the cosigning process specifically so as to prevent [her] from fully understanding the process and to prevent questioning.”
Bad Boys Bail Bonds also allegedly required Caldwell to provide the company with a listing of her employer, her assets and the names and contact information for three personal references.
California consumer protection law requires notice of responsibility to be given to any cosigner on a financial or credit agreement, especially in those cases when the cosigner is not a direct beneficiary of the agreement.
That notice has to be given either directly above the signature line on an agreement or on a separate sheet, using specific language in a specific sized type, in both English and Spanish, so as to ensure the cosigner fully understands the responsibility he or she is taking on.
Bad Boys Bail Bonds’ credit bail agreements contain no such disclosures and Caldwell was never given the mandated notice, her class action lawsuit claims.
Based on her experience, and the fact that the paperwork she was asked to sign had none of the required financial responsibility notices, Caldwell says it is clear Bad Boys is in the practice of violating the state’s consumer protection laws. For that reason, she is not only suing on her own behalf, but wants the court to certify her case as a class action lawsuit so she can represent all others who similarly cosigned credit bail agreements.
Within weeks of Caldwell’s friend being released from jail, Bad Boys Bail Bonds representatives reportedly began calling Caldwell and asking for payment of the outstanding debt. Then the company started calling her at work, calling her mother – who she listed as one of her personal references – and eventually filed a lawsuit against her to recoup the $4,500 owed on her friend’s bail.
Caldwell’s class action is considered a cross-action, in response to the lawsuit filed against her.
Have you ever cosigned a bail bonds agreement to help out a friend or relative? Were you fully informed of your responsibilities before you signed the agreement? Tell us about it in the comment section below.
Plaintiff Caldwell and the proposed Class Members are represented by Laurie Carr Mims, Jay Rapaport and Niall Mackay Roberts of Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, and Elisa Della-Piana of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Bail Bonds Class Action Lawsuit is Kiara Caldwell, et al. v. BBBB Bonding Corporation, et al., Case No. RG19041553, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda.
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One thought on California Bail Bonds Agency Hit With Class Action Lawsuit
I should be apart of this settlement