Federal Lawsuit Against Bondsman Dismissed

The Mobile Register reports that a federal judge in Mobile, AL has dismissed a lawsuit against a bail bondsman accused of causing the death of a jail inmate in 2003, ruling that the dead man's father did not meet the legal standard for bringing the suit. U.S. District Judge William Steele's order comes about three weeks after he ruled in favor of former Mobile County Sheriff Jack Tillman and the county in the death of James Ellis "Jamie" Weaver. The judge's ruling allows Weaver's father, Louis Weaver, to pursue claims of assault and wrongful death against James Bonding Co. in state court. Steele noted in his order, however, that the statute of limitations has expired. Any unfairness is mitigated by the fact that Weaver waited until two days before the time limit on lawsuits to file his action in the federal court, and by the weakness of his case against the bonding company, Steele wrote.

Louis Weaver sued last year, claiming Mobile County Metro Jail staffers and the bonding company violated the inmate's constitutional rights. Jamie Weaver, 31, died following surgery in August 2003, a week after staffers took him to the hospital. His trip to the hospital came five days after bounty hunters from James Bonding Co. delivered him to the jail on a bail-jumping charge.

Steele ruled that James Bonding Co. could not be sued in federal court for violating Weaver's constitutional rights unless it could be shown that it was acting on the "color of law," or that its activities were intertwined with the government in a "symbiotic relationship." The plaintiff failed both tests, he ruled. "After James Bonding obtained bondsman's process from the state court, there was no state involvement of any kind in James Bonding's ongoing efforts to arrest Weaver," the order states. "There is no evidence that James Bonding coordinated its two-month search for Weaver with law enforcement agencies. ... these facts unambiguously establish that James Bonding was performing a private function arising out of its contract with Weaver, and that it acted completely independently and in its own financial self-interest to carry out that function."