What is a California Appeal Bond?

In California superior courts, the person who lost a lawsuit has the right to appeal. The said party will be referred to as the “appellant”.

The appellant will then request the appellate court (California Court of Appeal or the appellate division of the superior court) to determine if there are any prejudicial errors – mistakes that adversely affected the outcome of the case.

Maybe the judge applied the wrong law during the trial, or that the jury made a wrongful finding of fact, or it could also be the judge made a wrongful finding of fact.

The appellate court can also review if there’s a substantial evidence that supported the court’s decision.

In order to prevent the appellee (the respondent in the appeal case) from collecting judgment while the appeal is on-going, the appellant must post an appeal bond.

 

WHAT IS AN APPEAL BOND AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?

An appeal bond is a type of surety bond (specifically, judiciary bond) that a defendant posts in order to stop the immediate enforcement of judgment.

When an appeal is made, there’s a possibility that the appellant will go bankrupt because of the high cost and long duration of an appeal.

Because of these, the court will ensure that the appellant will fulfill his or her obligations after the appeal is over, regardless of the outcome.

An appeal bond will do just that.

The bond will cover the following:

• Costs incurred due to the stay of execution
• The full amount of judgment

Because of these, the bond amount should be equal to or more than the amount required in order to satisfy the full amount of judgment plus costs, interests, and charges incurred during the appeal.

 

HOW MUCH DOES AN APPEAL BOND IN CALIFORNIA COST?

The court will have full discretion in determining the appellant’s bond amount.

In California, the amount of an appeal bond must be one-and-a-half times the judgment.

For example, if the monetary amount of judgment is $10,000, the bond amount will be $15,000.

The bond premium will be a small percentage of the bond amount – typically 1% to 2% of the bond amount.

Unlike other bonds, the premium for appeal bonds are not dependent on the appellant/principal’s credit score. This is because the appellant will be required to post collateral that is equal to or more than the full bond amount.

An appeal bond should also cover the court costs of the appellee in case the appeal fails. The following costs must also be recoverable under an appeal bond:

• Preparation and transmission of records
• Reporter’s transcript
• Written portion of the appellate court (Clerk’s Transcript or Rule 5.1 Appendix)

 

HOW TO GET AN APPEAL BOND

You can get an appeal bond from us. If you’re ready to apply for one right now, you may easily do so HERE!

We will immediately process your application once we have received it. One of our expert surety bond agents will guide you through the whole process from the time you applied for the bond. We will make sure that you understand all the conditions before we issue the bond.

As mentioned above, the appellant must post collateral. Once collateral has been posted and the bond premium paid, the appeal bond will be issued immediately.

 

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