Bozeman (Montana) Agrees to Pay Bad Boy Bail Bonds $100K for Alleged Blacklisting

From Daily Montanan (Darrell Ehrlick) Wednesday:

Looney, who owns Bad Boy Bail Bonds in Gallatin County, took two Bozeman municipal judges to court, alleging that they had unfairly and illegally discriminated against his business.

This week, the City of Bozeman has settled with him for $100,000….

Looney purchased the name of a former bail bond company, Bad Boy Bail Bonds, but didn't purchase the business itself. However, several bonds issued under the name had been forfeited, and the two municipal judges — Colleen Herrington and Karolina Tierney, ordered Looney to pay the amount, $1,585, which he originally refused.

When Looney attempted to explain that the had purchased just the name and not the company or its book of business, the judges ordered that Bozeman municipal court not accept bail bonds from Bad Boy Bail Bonds, leading him to allege that he was losing tens of thousands of dollars. At one point, other counties began to follow suit.

You can read Judge Donald Molloy's Mar. 17 decision in Looney v. Tierney (D. Mont.) denying judicial immunity, which notes that plaintiffs had alleged defendant judges "committed constitutional violations when they banned Plaintiffs from submitting bail bonds in their court until Looney agreed to withdraw a judicial ethics complaint filed against Judge Tierney."

Matthew Monforton represents plaintiffs.