Applicability of part – Exclusion from insurance company laws – Acting as sureties – Bonding capacity

(a) This part shall apply to all professional bondsmen, but shall not apply to or affect those persons, firms, partnerships or corporations engaged exclusively in the business of making judicial or other bonds, or providing or furnishing indemnity, as surety, in suits or actions of a purely civil nature; and shall not apply to persons, firms, partnerships or corporations, which become bondsmen without receiving consideration from, or as an accommodation to, an accused in a single transaction; provided, that if those persons, firms, partnerships or corporations shall undertake to furnish bail, make appearance bonds or enter into similar undertakings, as surety, for a consideration in a criminal case, then this part shall apply to them in respect of such transactions, as well as to those engaged exclusively in the business of a professional bondsman. All provisions of this part will apply to agents of insurance companies making appearance bonds in the criminal trial or lower courts and in the court of criminal appeals and supreme court of Tennessee. Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!(1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Professional bondsman: means any person, firm, partnership or corporation, engaged for profit in the business of furnishing bail, making bonds or entering into undertakings, as surety, in criminal proceedings, or for the appearance of persons charged with any criminal offense or violation of law or ordinance punishable by fine, imprisonment or death, before any of the courts of this state, including municipal courts or securing the payment of fines, judgments or damages imposed and of costs assessed by those courts upon preliminary or final disposition thereof. See Tennessee Code 40-11-301signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105(b) A professional bondsman, as defined in § 40-11-301, is specifically excluded from the laws governing insurance companies and any regulatory authority exercised by the department of commerce and insurance except as provided in subsections (c) and (d). (c) A professional bondsman may act as surety on the following civil bonds, to a maximum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), without qualifying with the department as an insurance company or agent being subject to the laws governing insurance companies or agents, so long as the court regulating the professional bondsman’s criminal bonding activities has established regulations for the civil bonding activities of the professional bondsman which, at a minimum, shall require a ten percent (10%) security. These bonds are: appeal, attachment, certiorari, cost, detainer, injunction, lis pendens, possession and restraining order. A professional bondsman may act as surety on appearance and contempt bonds without qualifying with the department as an insurance company or agent. (d) Any professional bondsman acting as surety under subsection (c) shall also be subject to the following: (1) The commissioner of commerce and insurance may investigate the civil bonding activities of any professional bondsman; (2) After investigation, if the commissioner has reasonable grounds to believe that the civil bonding activities are not in the best interest of the general public, the commissioner shall make a report of the investigation and any recommendations, and forward a copy to the court regulating the professional bondsman; and (3) The court, after receipt of the commissioner’s report, shall hold a hearing and enter any orders that the court deems appropriate. (e) A professional bondsman’s capacity, in those judicial districts where a professional bondsman uses collateral pledged with the court to underwrite bonds written by the professional bondsman, shall be determined as follows: (1) Where the collateral pledged is cash, or an item readily converted to ca