Platt v. Brown

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Bail Bond
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 17-1830
Decision Date: 
October 5, 2017
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed

Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing for failure to state cause of action, plaintiff’s action alleging that imposition of mandatory 1 percent bail bond processing fee, as set forth in 725 ILCS section 5/110-7, violated his due process and equal protection rights. While plaintiff argued that his $20,000 bail bond fee bore no rational relationship to costs incurred by defendant-clerk in administering bail bonds, bail bond fee did not violate due process clause since it bore rational relationship to state’s legitimate interests in encouraging use of full bail bond system, as well as creating simple method of administration and defraying expenses of administering bail bond system. Moreover, cost of processing bail bond need not precisely equal bail bond fee. Also, plaintiff could not establish any equal protection violation, since everyone who posts 10 percent of his or her bail bond is charged instant one percent fee.