Tuesday, April 28, 2009

County of Los Angeles v. Fairmont Speciality Group (Cal. Ct. App. - April 28, 2009)

Are you from Honduras (as a couple of my friends are)? If so, I've got a great profession for you:

Drug dealer.

Why, you might ask? For the money, of course. But the big side benefit is that, apparently, Honduras won't extradite you. Which is good for drug dealers, but bad -- as this case reflects -- for bond companies.

For anyone interested in empirical work, it'd be interesting to see if this gets reflected in the marketplace for bonds. Do people charged with drug offenses who are Honduran nationals have a harder time getting bonds and/or pay a premium due to their differential ability to successfully flee? How well does the "invisible hand" work in this area?

Regardless, if you're from Honduras and are about to be -- or are -- busted for a drug offense, after what I learned today, I have three words for you:

Flight to Tejucigalpa.