J & M Bail Bonding Co. v. Hayes

J M Bail Bonding Company and AA Bail Bonding, Inc., are professional bonding companies owned by Ronald McCoy. They are authorized to act as sureties and to issue bail bonds in Etowah County. On or about August 29, 1998, James Hayes, sheriff of Etowah County, learned that McCoy had caused Richard Briggs, a corrections officer at the Etowah County Detention Center, to block telephone calls from inmates to Eagle Bonding Company, a major competitor of J M and AA. Sheriff Hayes considered McCoy's involvement in blocking telephone calls to another bonding company a compromise of the security of the…