In County of Los Angeles v. Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Co., 2009 WL 2768555 (Cal.App. September 2, 2009) the defendant failed to appear, but his wife was in court and presented a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs stating that the defendant had been accepted into a residential drug treatment program. The court continued the hearing and did not forfeit the bail bond. The defendant did not appear at the continued hearing, and the court then declared a forfeiture and eventually entered judgment against the surety. The surety appealed and argued that failure to declare a forfeiture on the first occasion of non-appearance deprived the court of jurisdiction to forfeit the bond. The issue was whether the trial court acted within its discretion in not declaring a forfeiture. The Court of Appeal held that under the current statute it is not necessary for the trial court to state its reasons in the Minutes, and the Court of Appeal could look to the entire record. The letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs was in the record and established a rational basis for the trial court to believe the defendant might have a sufficient excuse for his nonappearance, and thus the court acted within its discretion in continuing the hearing and not forfeiting the bond.