In response to recent legislation in New Jersey requiring Bail Agents to have a Bounty Hunter License if they wanted to pursue a fugitive, AIA retained a leading law firm. After several weeks, we are pleased to announce a big win for New Jersey Bondsmen. Per the correspondence from our attorney…
“In order to protect the agents from potential arrest for surrendering fugitives, we filed an appeal with the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, challenging that the New Jersey State Police’s actions and seeking certain rulings and clarifications that licensed bondsman are not subject to the Act. As a direct result of our pending litigation, the New Jersey State Police and Attorney General issued a revised Memorandum on September 2, 2009 formerly rescinding the prior Memorandums and clarifying that licensed insurance producers and limited line bail bond agents are exempt from the bounty hunter licensing law so long as they are not receiving any additional fee, hired or rewarded for those actions.”
According to our attorney…
“The significance of the September 2, 2009 Memorandum is that it establishes a blanket exemption for licensed bondsmen, rather than a limited exception, as established in the prior memorandums. Additionally, this blanket exemption allows all licensed bondsmen to pursue their Agency’s fugitives, regardless of whether or not they personally signed the recognizance form so long as they are not receiving an additional fee, hired or rewarded.
For additional information on this case, or if you have any questions about a similar situation in your state, please contact us @ [email protected].