What is a Supersedeas Bond?

A supersedeas bond is also known as a defendant’s appeal bond, or just an appeal bond, because it’s a type of surety bond the court will require from a defendant when they are appealing the case. For example, if you lost a case that resulted in a $300,000 judgement for the plaintiff, but you’re appealing the case, the judgement won’t be paid while the case is being appealed, but the court will require that you obtain a supersedeas bond to ensure that if your appeal is unsuccessful the money to pay the judgement will remain available.

Each state has various rules governing the use of supersedeas bonds which will determine the amount and availability. For example, in Florida your supersedeas bond can not exceed $50 million per appellant and in California the supersedeas bond must be 150% of the judgement amount to cover court costs and other fees during the appeal process.  In Texas there are five additional state-specific regulations and they call it the “security for judgments pending appeal.” Ohio has a cap on the maximum bond amount for all damages – $50 Million.

How Does the Defendant Benefit from a Supersedeas Bond?

The purpose of a supersedeas bond is to ensure that the successful party will be able to collect his or her winnings after the appeal is over.  An appeal can still be filed without a supersedeas bond, however, without the supersedeas bond in place the judgment will be given to the appellee (respondent to the appeal) without a stay of execution (think of it as a freeze on any court ordered actions and judgments until the appeal is over).

If you are the one who was originally ordered to pay a judgement, then appealed and now it has been ruled you do NOT need to pay that judgement and the court is ruling in YOUR favor, it will be much harder to recover the money or other assets that were originally awarded by the court to the other side.

Get Your Supersedeas Bond from ABC Bail Bonds in Cleveland

ABC Bail Bonds provides all types of surety bonds, including supersedeas bonds. With over 40 years of experience serving all of Ohio from our local offices in Cleveland, Toledo and Columbus ABC Bail Bonds is your supersedeas bond expert. Call our Cleveland bail bonds office at 216-696-4866 or fill out or contact us form.