Bonding for Judges?

[Dan_Clizer]

Can anyone tell me what the consequences might be of judges NOT obtaining a bond? From my research, judges must be bonded, but in fact, many have NOT obtained a bond.

This is a very serious matter as it reflects a general lack of concern on the part of judges in following law.

Could anyone direct me toward a place where I might research the legal consequences of judges ignoring bonding dictates?

Thanks a lot!

Dan

[Admin]

Personally, I have never heard of a requirement for judges to be bonded. To my knowledge, our agency has never received such a request. However, other occupations that require an individual or company to be bonded will result in the cease of their operations by the obligee of the bond.

[Dan_Clizer]

Wow! That's interesting.....Thank You for the reply, I'll keep digging then & see what I can find out.

I appreciate the help!

Dan

[marietta68]

Originally Posted by Dan_Clizer

Can anyone tell me what the consequences might be of judges NOT obtaining a bond? From my research, judges must be bonded, but in fact, many have NOT obtained a bond.

This is a very serious matter as it reflects a general lack of concern on the part of judges in following law.

Could anyone direct me toward a place where I might research the legal consequences of judges ignoring bonding dictates?

Thanks a lot!

Dan

I came across this inquiry today and wanted to interject, as an underwriter.

This bond would come under the category of public official bond and my company writes quite a bit of this business (we're in the top 10 writers of surety premium). In my experience, there are a lot of entities and jurisdictions that have written requirement for bonds but then waive the requirement because they feel they don't have any exposure or that the position isn't handling taxpayer funds so there's nothing at risk. While I haven't personally seen a loss where the bonded public official doesn't handle funds, I've seen plenty where they do. In this situation, the County officials have probably decided the judge doesn't need the bond and the County is unwilling to pay the expense of the bond, which would be expected. I think this is less a problem of the judges following the law and more a lack of willingness to enforce it. It might also depend upon whether judges are appointed or elected. In any event, if you want to market this particular line, you're talking about a public official bond, and your surety will run a personal credit report on the applicant to determine credit worthiness.