The subject of this article is a court order waiving a legal bond or commitment 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 required bond or pledge amount may allow a poor litigant to proceed with their lawsuit.
The California Supreme Court has stated in one case, “In a long series of cases… our court has explained that, despite the apparent binding nature of a variety of statutes requiring the payment of litigation fees, courts of California retains a common law authority to dispense with such fees in the case of poor litigants.”
If an injunctive relief is granted, a commitment is required pursuant to subdivision a of section 529 of the Code of Civil Procedure. However, a trial court does have discretion to relieve an indigent plaintiff who is unable to post an injunction bond under section 529.
A waiver of an injunction bond may be easier to obtain than a waiver of other bonds, as a very good argument can be made that allowing a waiver of an injunction bond is even stronger than allowing a waiver of a bond cost, because with the injunction 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 requirement of bail.
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 the posting of a bond, either in whole or in part, has been codified by the California legislature pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure ยง 995.240.
A California litigator who has obtained a court fee waiver order has a much better chance of obtaining a waiver or a substantial reduction of the legal bond requirement. In one case, a California Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s dismissal of a claim for failure to submit a commitment required by California law because the plaintiff resided out of state. In overturning the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claim, the Court of Appeal stated that because the plaintiff had obtained a fee waiver order, the trial court acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to 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 section of the California code, please use the link below.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml
Anyone requesting a waiver or reduction of a statutory bond requirement must indicate in their supporting statement sufficient specific facts to support their request, as failure to do so may result in a denial of their request because any statement is conclusive and lacking in substance. enough specific facts. to support your request.
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