Helena bail bondsman sues Bozeman municipal judges

A Helena-based bail bondsman says in a new court filing that he has no other choice than to sue Bozeman municipal court judges after they have apparently refused accepting his company’s bail bonds because he filed a complaint with the state’s Judicial Standards Commission about their behavior.

John J. Looney, Sr., is the owner of Do Process, which does business as Bad Boy Bail Bonds, based in Helena. It says at least half of its business is conducted in Gallatin County and Bozeman. Looney is a former Army military police, served at the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office and is part of the leadership of the national trade organization for bail bonding companies.

The genesis of the lawsuit actually took place more than four years ago when the business name, Bad Boy Bail Bonds, was owned by a different Montana company. Looney liked the name and bought the name, but not the bail bonding business. However, during a court hearing in Bozeman Municipal Court, officials noted that Bad Boy Bail Bonds had an outstanding bond that had been forfeited in the amount of $1,585.

Looney claimed that while he was using the same name, he had simply purchased the right to use the name, not the company, and the forfeited bond wasn’t his. However, municipal court judge Karolina Tierney and the chief municipal court judge J. Colleen Herrington stopped Looney’s company from issuing bail bonds until the matter was satisfied, apparently concluding they were the same.

Looney spent several months of back-and-forth negotiations in an attempt to resolve the case, according to documents recently filed in Gallatin County District Court. However, as the judges refused to budge, Looney filed a complaint with the Judicial Standards Commission, the state commission that oversees complaints and disciplinary actions over judges throughout the state.

In one instance, Looney had even tried to appeal the municipal court’s decision not to honor his bonds to state district court, but Judge Tierney issued an order removing his appeal from the court’s records.

In a court filing, Looney said that the refusal to accept his bonds was causing him to lose out on between $250,000 and $350,000 in bonds per month, and he said that he decided to pay the $1,585 in order to begin working again.

“Because the judges’ actions were crippling his business, Looney decided that he had no alternative but to pay a bond forfeiture for which he was not responsible, and did so on Aug. 30,” the court filing said. “…For them, Looney paying the bond forfeiture was no longer going to cut it — he now had to withdraw his JSC complaint as the price for writing bonds in the court.”

However, even after the bond was paid, Looney was informed by the court that he couldn’t start issuing bonds in Bozeman’s municipal court until he withdrew his complaint from the Judicial Standards Commissions, something Looney has refused to do.

“When clients are arrested on new charges or warrants in other courts, but also have pending charges in Municipal Court, we are unable to provide full assistance and are forced to refer them to our competitors for their Municipal Court bond,” Looney said in the court filing. “This situation is not only harming our business operations but is also impacting our reputation in the community.”

Looney said that if he’s not able to resume doing business in Bozeman, he will be forced to lay off staff.

Bozeman attorney Matthew Monforton, who represents Looney, is suing the two municipal court judges — a rarity in itself because judges can only be sued in very specific circumstances — alleging they have violated his First Amendment rights as well as the Montana constitutional guarantee of honoring qualified bonds.

Looney has been licensed and in good standing with the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance during the entire time.

“This case arises from an egregious abuse of power by the two judges currently sitting on the Bozeman Municipal Court,” the lawsuit states. “Their retaliatory conduct is threatening not only the professional livelihood of a licensed bail bondsman but also the integrity of the judicial process itself.”

In the court filing, Looney compares the actions of the two judges to extortion.

“Their demand that he withdraw his JSC complain as the price for filing bail bonds in the Bozeman Municipal Court is outrageous and borders on criminal extortion — the judges are using their official position to demand the withdrawal of valid ethics complaint in exchange for the reinstatement of business privileges. Looney will not withdraw his JSC complaint. Instead, he will soon file more.”