Alabama Case Laws
Click on the below to read Alabama Case Laws for the following years:
2006
2004
Alabama Case Law 2006
In Union Planters Bank, N.A. v. People of the State of New York, 2006 WL 146598 (11th Cir. January 20, 2006) a property bond was posted in New York secured by property in Alabama. After an affidavit of the bond was filed in the land records in Alabama, the property was refinanced and the amount owed to the bank increased. The property was sold in foreclosure, and the issue was how the proceeds should be divided. The Eleventh Circuit certified three questions to the Alabama Supreme Court relating to the priority of liens between the bank and the State and particularly whether the bond became a lien when the affidavit was recorded or only when a forfeiture was declared.
Alabama Case Law 2004
In Ex parte Singleton, 2004 WL 2676659 (Ala. Crim. App. November 24, 02004) the trial court set a $150,000 “cash only” bond. The defendant appealed arguing that under the Alabama Constitution he had a right to bail with “sufficient sureties” and that the cash only bail was excessive and in violation of the sufficient sureties clause (Ala. Const. Art. I, §16). The Court reviewed the derivation of the clause and decisions from other states with similar clauses, and held that the cash only bail was constitutional and that the amount was not excessive given the facts of the case. The Court reasoned that “sufficient” was a limitation on a defendant’s access to sureties and gave discretion to the judicial officer setting bail.