CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 3250, 2004 WL 507570
...He entered into negotiations to sell this business to the agency’s employee, Mr. Lammie. Among the assets that Mr. Carr represented that he was selling to Mr. Lammie was the build-up fund with Accredited, which is described on the documents related to the sale as a money market account. See § 648.29, Fla. Stat. (1999). A statutory build-up fund may be posted by a bail bond agent or a bail bond agency. See § 648.29(1)....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2005 Fla. App. LEXIS 1359, 2005 WL 292222
...Roche Surety and Casualty Company, Inc., challenges the Department of Financial Services’ order concluding that Roche knowingly and willfully failed to pay buildup funds due a bail bond agent upon discharge of liabilities in violation of section *1140 648.29(3), Florida Statutes (2003)....
...Roche and Willie David entered an agency agreement under which Roche held build-up funds to secure open bail bond liabilities posted by David. They terminated their agreement in June 2000. In June 2001 David complained to the Department that Roche had not returned his build-up funds in violation of section 648.29(3), which provides that build-up funds are due and payable not later than six months after final discharge of the liabilities....
...On March 3, 2003, the Department sent Roche a letter advising it that all of David’s outstanding liabilities had been discharged as of August 23, 2002, and placing it on notice of its obligation to repay the build-up funds by February 23, 2003, under section 648.29(3)....
...At the hearing, David consented to the entry of the order that allowed Roche to hold the build-up funds until the lawsuit concluded. The Department did not intervene in the circuit court lawsuit. On September 15, 2003, the Department filed a notice and order to show cause against Roche alleging that it had violated section 648.29(3) by failing to timely return build-up funds to David....
...Following a hearing, the administrative law judge (ALJ) issued a recommended order on January 28, 2004. In pertinent part, the ALJ accepted Roche’s statement in the circuit court action that David had discharged his open bond liabilities and that pursuant to section 648.29, he was entitled to a return of the build-up funds account....
...Deferring to the circuit court’s authority in entering the order that suspended the requirement that Roche return the build-up funds, the ALJ recommended that as long as the circuit court order remained in effect, the Department could not establish that Roche was in willful violation of section
648.29(3) for failure to return the build-up funds. See §
624.4211(4), Fla. Stat. (2003) (permitting the Department to impose a fine of up to $20,000 when an insurer willfully fails to comply with section
648.29(3))....
...t disregarded the period between February 24 and August 15, 2003, during which Roche was holding the build-up funds notwithstanding its knowledge of David’s discharge of his liabilities. Accordingly, it concluded that Roche’s viola *1141 tion of section 648.29(3) was knowing and willful and, therefore, imposed a penalty of $10,000....
...The Department erred when it recast the ALJ’s finding on willfulness as a conclusion of law. We agree with the ALJ’s finding that the existence of the circuit court order prevented the Department from establishing that Roche was in willful violation of section 648.29(3)....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2002 Fla. App. LEXIS 4484, 2002 WL 506806
...The criminal defendant failed to appear at a scheduled hearing, resulting in the estreature of the bond. Accredited Surety paid the $80,000 owed on the bond to the criminal court and sought reimbursement from Mr. Carr. Accredited Surety deducted $10,000 from Mr. Carr’s build-up fund, see § 648.29, Fla....
