Do Orleans Parish bail bondsmen fleece clients? State insurance department to ask court to settle legal issue
A formal complaint lodged in September by the
That means felony suspects pay
At the heart of the dispute is a practice that bail bondsmen in
Bondsmen argue that they have a right to pass that extra one percent on to their customers. But in its complaint, SPLC argues that nothing in state law authorizes it.
That additional license fee all goes to help fund the
The advocacy group names 21 bail bond companies and underwriters that it claims flout state law as a matter of practice. The group has asked state regulators to halt the practice, fine the companies involved, force them to issue refunds to clients and suspend or revoke their licenses.
The state agency formally responded to SPLC in a letter dated Wednesday, saying it would file a court petition for "declaratory judgment," which is essentially a request for a judge to settle the legal issue.
"Rest assured, the issues identified in your complaint will be addressed in due course," Deputy Insurance Commissioner
Ledet said the agency would likely file its petition in the
"We just felt this would be the best course of action," she said.
A spokeswoman for the advocacy group said it would wait for the agency to file its petition before commenting.
The complaint marked the latest attack by advocacy groups in
Dennis did not dispute that bondsmen in the city charge customers 13 percent, only the notion that it is illegal or untoward.
"This is an attempt for them to run an entire industry into the ground with their stupid legal wrangling," Dennis said. "The bail bond industry continues to be a 10 percent industry. The rest of those fees are imposed by the government, state and local. This is their fee. Where in the world did we carve out this one specific thing in all of our lives that can't be passed on to the consumer?"
Dennis said it makes sense for the state agency to ask the courts to resolve the legal question in the complaint.
"It's smart," Dennis said. "They can punt it back to the judges who started the problem."
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