Pryor Org. Inc. v. Stewart

The county sheriff acted within his discretion in refusing to allow a bondsman to continue issuing bail bonds in the county based on the bondsman's arrest for impersonating an officer and public official.

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For a number of years, Pryor Organization, Inc. Pryor engaged in the bail bond business in Spalding County. In January of 2001, however, the newly elected Sheriff of Spalding County Dee Stewart informed Pryor that he would not allow it to continue to write bonds in the county. At that time, the only reason the Sheriff gave for his action was that he did not need Pryor’s services. Pryor filed a petition for mandamus, seeking to compel the Sheriff to reinstate it.

Prior to the hearing, the Sheriff gave Pryor written notice of the numerous specific grounds upon which he based his decision. Although he relied upon all of those reasons before the trial court, only two of them are relevant to this appeal. First, he expressed his concern about the moral character of Mark Pryor, the corporation’s principal officer, who had been arrested for impersonating a police officer and a public official, and also for failing to display a county decal on his tag. However, since the State eventually dropped all charges except the traffic offense, the trial court found that this was not a valid reason for the Sheriff to disapprove Pryor to write bonds in the county. The second basis offered by the Sheriff for his decision was a television advertisement filmed by Pryor in the lobby of the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office some two years previously. Although the then-sheriff expressly approved the filming, the trial court found that Pryor’s act of making the commercial supported the Sheriff’s decision because OCGA § 17-6-52 prohibits bondsmen from soliciting or loitering about or around the jail for business purposes. The trial court found that the Sheriff did not abuse his discretion by relying upon OCGA § 17-6-52, and entered a final order denying mandamus. Pryor appeals from that order.

Pryor Org. Inc. v. Stewart

The county sheriff acted within his discretion in refusing to allow a bondsman to continue issuing bail bonds in the county based on the bondsman's arrest for impersonating an officer and public official.

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