State to finally settle with bail bond companies

Thursday, May 11, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY - After six years of intense legal battles, the state is ready to agree to pay a $300,000 settlement to two Las Vegas bail bond companies and two agents.

"The (legal) depositions alone would fill up a good-sized bookcase," said Senior Deputy Attorney General Joe Ward, one of the state's lawyers who worked on the cases filed by All Star Bail Bonds Inc. and A Bail Bonds Inc.

The state Board of Examiners, which consists of the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, will decide today whether to accept the $300,000 offer of judgment made by the two companies. If not, the case would go to trial on Monday in Las Vegas, exactly six years after it was filed. It is expected to last three to five weeks.

Nine lawyers have been involved - five on the side of the state and four for the bail bond companies, its owners and employees.

The dispute started in the summer of 1998 when the state Insurance Division, which has authority over bail bond companies, suspended All Star's license, alleging that some of its agents roughed up customers, even pointing a gun at them and threatening to kill them in disputes over the bail.

The license was suspended without a hearing. The company went to court and the license was reinstated. The disciplinary case was settled years later without any party admitting fault.

The civil suit accuses the state of defamation, abuse of process, international interference with contract, violation of the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and constitutional violations.

The suit said an investigation by state agents was improper and was aimed at putting the companies out of business.

A judgment against the state would be costly. Each of the 178 counts carry up to $50,000 penalties, and if the state loses a count, it could be liable for the plaintiffs' legal fees.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Bob Auer said it was a good settlement for the state.

"It is our belief that the plaintiff has incurred attorney fees that would dwarf this number ($300,000)," Auer said.

Dominic Gentile, attorney for All Star owner Angela Mayfield, said he was "satisfied with the way it worked out. It was never about getting millions of dollars. It was about a wrong that needed to be righted."

He said his clients spent more in attorney fees than the settlement will cover "but they are satisfied."