Securities
Nov. 26, 2016
Attorney general to intervene on bail case
The attorney for a trade group representing bail agents said Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has decided to intervene in the case challenging the bail system in San Francisco.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has decided to intervene in a case challenging the bail system in San Francisco, according to attorneys involved.
The suit was brought last year by the Washington, D.C. based Equal Protection Under the Law on behalf of two women who said they were given unreasonably high bail . Buffin et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, 15-CV4959 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 28, 2015).
On Nov. 1, City Attorney Dennis Herrera said he would not defend the suit. This prompted the California Bail Agents Association to argue they should be allowed to defend the case.
On Tuesday, CBAA attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon asked that their motion to intervene be removed because "counsel for the Attorney General of California has informed Plaintiffs' counsel and counsel for the CBAA that the Attorney General of California will seek to intervene in this action."
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District granted the motion on Wednesday.
The stipulation did not specifically state the AG plans to defend the bail system in San Francisco. The plaintiffs' attorney noted that Harris defended the bail system in a June 23 motion.
"We already know that the AG believes the bail laws are constitutional," said Phil Telfeyan, executive director of Equal Justice Under the Law.
In the motion, Harris noted "wealth is not a suspect class" under the Constitution and claimed that the plaintiffs failed to show that their due process rights were violated.
Harris also argued that her office should be dismissed as a defendant on the grounds of Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity. Rogers granted the dismissal with leave to amend.
Under Rogers' Nov. 23 order, the AG will have until Dec. 13 to intervene. CBAA will have to option to file another motion to intervene by Dec. 20.
The group has argued that if the San Francisco suit were successful it would undermine the bail system statewide.
"I think it is critical that the court allow any interested parties to intervene and have a full airing of all the issues before we reach a conclusion, and that we do not allow the City Attorney's office to decide the case by refusing to defend state law," said Dhillon, owner of Dhillon Law Group Inc. in San Francisco.
The AG's office did not respond to a request for comment.
malcolm_maclachlan@dailyjournal.com
Malcolm Maclachlan
malcolm_maclachlan@dailyjournal.com
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