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ALAMEDA, Calif. \u2013 The Supreme Court of California has finalized approval of a class-action settlement and entered judgment barring Bad Boys Bail Bonds from coercing low-income families to cosign bail agreements for their imprisoned loved ones, formally closing litigation that spanned from 2019 to 2022.<\/p>\n
According to the Jan. 21, 2026, judgment entered in Alameda County Superior Court, the court approved the class-action settlement pursuant to California Rules of Court 3.769(h) and 3.771(a), entering judgment between BBBB Bonding Corp., doing business as Bad Boys Bail Bonds, and class representatives Kiara Caldwell and Donzahniya Pitre on behalf of the settling class.<\/p>\n
The court retained jurisdiction \u201cto enforce the terms of the judgment, which are set forth in the Final Approval Order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initially, the settlement was effectuated by two autonomous cosigners represented by Lawyers\u2019 Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. Accordingly, the preliminary injunction was first issued in April 2021 and affirmed by the California Court of Appeal in December 2021.<\/p>\n
The judgment defines the settling class as \u201call Cosigners who signed a Cosigner Contract during the Release Period, who made a payment on a Cosigner Contract during the Release Period, or from whom payment was sought or allegedly owed during the Release Period\u201d .<\/p>\n
The court specified that the \u201cRelease Period\u201d spans from Oct. 30, 2015, through April 1, 2022 .<\/p>\n
Under the judgment, a \u201cCosigner\u201d is defined as \u201can individual other than the arrestee, who signs a Cosigner Contract during the Release Period,\u201d provided the arrestee also signs the same or substantially similar contract and the cosigner is not married to the arrestee .<\/p>\n
The judgment further defines a \u201cCosigner Contract\u201d as an agreement in which an individual other than the arrestee \u201cassumes responsibility or becomes obligated, in whole or in part, for payment of the arrestee\u2019s bail bond premium (including, for example, any BBBB \u2018Unpaid Premium Agreement\u2019)\u201d .<\/p>\n
Excluded from the settling class are six individuals who submitted requests for exclusion, as provided in the Final Approval Order .<\/p>\n
The court also ordered that the Settlement Administrator provide notice of the judgment to the class \u201cin the same manner as notice of preliminary approval\u201d , and set a compliance hearing for June 24, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. .<\/p>\n
Since 2017, Bad Boys has violated consumer protection laws through the illicit collection of 18,000 signed consumer credit contracts, capitalizing on $38 million based solely on false promises of releasing their loved ones for a \u201csmall fee.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court of California found that two statutory schemes underpin the initial appeal: consumer credit protections under the Civil Code, designed to \u201cinform unsuspecting consumers of the consequences of cosigning consumer credit contracts for friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bail Bond Regulatory Act is formed of two different contracts entirely: the first is a contract between a criminal defendant and a surety \u2014 the surety must post the bail bond in exchange for the defendant\u2019s payment of a premium, or a promise to pay the full amount in the case of a nonappearance. In the second, the surety works as the defendant\u2019s guarantor in court under risk of forfeiture of the bond.<\/p>\n
The company held co-signers \u201cunder the bus,\u201d as Bad Boys failed to legally require notice, leaving families liable for the full bail amount, causing psychological trauma to ensue as co-signers were harassed, threatened and sued for thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
Plaintiff Kiara Caldwell became a victim of this turmoil; Caldwell conducted an interview with Bad Boys and signed a $500 bail bond payment for her friend, who was being arrested and held at San Leandro Jail.<\/p>\n
However, this consultation consisted only of a 15-minute, fast-paced and highly misleading intimidation of money, charging her for a \u201cUpaid Premium Agreement\u201d for $5,000. Bad Boys later sued the plaintiff and threatened her job and her family.<\/p>\n
Bad Boys Bail Bonds has been permanently banned from collecting the illegally coerced money from the victims of the contracts signed before April 1, 2022.<\/p>\n
A court-appointed monitor will review all payments made to the company and require that mandatory cosigner notices be provided to all participants, alongside heightened training regimens on the importance of following consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis settlement is a victory for low-income families and communities of color who have been exploited by the bail bond industry. For years, Bad Boys preyed on people at their most vulnerable, burying them in debt they never knowingly agreed to,\u201d said Nisha Kashyap, program director for the Lawyers\u2019 Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, in a statement.<\/p>\n
The result of this lawsuit became a breather for the thousands of Californians who were lied to and harassed by the bail bond industry \u2014 acting as if they were above the law, finding loopholes to oppress the marginalized and low-income.<\/p>\n
This class-action lawsuit against Bad Boys Bail Bonds was the first of its kind in California to challenge a commercial bail bond company for violating consumer protection laws \u2014 and surely not the last \u2014 \u201cuntil the day comes that the industry is finally eliminated for good,\u201d Niall Frizelli, attorney at Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP, notes.<\/p>\n
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media \u2013 X<\/a>, Instagram <\/a>and Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0 Subscribe <\/a>the Vanguard News letters.\u00a0 To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org\/donate<\/a> or give directly through ActBlue<\/a>.\u00a0 Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.<\/p>\n Categories: Breaking News<\/a> Everyday Injustice<\/a> Tags: Alameda County Superior Court<\/a> bail bond industry<\/a> Bail Reform<\/a> California Supreme Court<\/a> class-action lawsuit<\/a> Consumer Protection<\/a>