A California court granted final approval of a landmark class-action settlement with Bad Boys Bail Bonds, permanently barring the company from collecting $38 million in illegal debt from Californians who cosigned bail agreements for loved ones in jail.
The settlement makes permanent a preliminary injunction first issued in April 2021 and affirmed by the California Court of Appeal in December 2021, prohibiting Bad Boys from collecting tens of millions of dollars in unlawfully obtained debt and codifying new consumer protections for cosigners.
The class action was brought by two individual cosigners and led by Keker, Van Nest & Peters in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. The case was among the first in California to challenge a commercial bail bond company for violating consumer protection laws. From 2017 to 2022, Bad Boys issued over 18,000 bail bond contracts, with outstanding debt totaling nearly $38 million. The company routinely failed to provide the legally required notice to cosigners, leaving them unaware they could be held liable for the full bail amount. Cosigners were later harassed, threatened, and sued for thousands of dollars that they had never agreed to pay.
“Our settlement ensures transparency, accountability, and fairness where previously there was deception, harassment, and exploitation,” Keker of counsel Niall Frizzell said.
The approved settlement establishes several key forms of relief. Bad Boys is permanently barred from collecting an estimated $38 million in debt arising from cosigner contracts signed before April 1, 2022. Bad Boys must also provide mandatory cosigner notices and train employees on compliance with consumer protection laws. A court-appointed monitor will review prior payments made to Bad Boys to ensure compliance with the injunction.
“This settlement is a victory for low-income families and communities of color who have been exploited by the bail bond industry,” said Nisha Kashyap of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Keker team included Frizzell and partner Laurie Carr Mims.
Read the Bay Area News Group article here.
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