A judge has dismissed Warren County Circuit Court Clerk Brenda Eggering from a lawsuit challenging the practice of seizing cash bonds from Warren County jail inmates to pay for incarceration expenses.Franklin County Associate Circuit Court Judge Stanley D. Williams cited several problems with the plaintiff’s lawsuit but granted him an additional 20 days to amend his petition to clarify some of the issues.The judge’s order, which was entered Monday, is not final. It left open the possibility that Christopher Shive could still pursue his case against Eggering. Warren County remains a defendant in the case.Shive, Wright City, originally filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in October of 2011 alleging the circuit clerk used a portion of his cash bond for housing fees at the jail without notifying him or asking his consent. He also alleged that inmates who posted surety bonds or property bonds did not have a portion of their bonds taken.He voluntarily dismissed that case in November of 2012 but filed similar class-action lawsuits in Warren and Lincoln County Circuit court in 2013 alleging many of the same violations of law.According to his most recent lawsuit, Shive was incarcerated in the Warren County Adult Detention Facility on numerous occasions from 2003 through 2010. Shive posted a $1,500 bond on Feb. 9, 2010, to secure his release from the Warren County Jail.The lawsuit alleges that Warren County, through Eggering, required all cash bonds to be posted in the name of the defendant, regardless of the actual person, or guarantor, who secures the funds to post the bond.After his release, Shive discovered that $989 of his bond had been seized by the circuit clerk’s office as reimbursement for housing fees while Shive was incarcerated in the county jail.Shive contends that Eggering did not file a civil action seeking judgement against him as required by law for the housing fees while he was locked up. He argued that his cash bond was posted only as a promise to reappear in order to be released from custody.Eggering said Tuesday she was pleased with the court’s ruling. She reiterated that she was not employed as the county’s circuit clerk when Shive alleges his cash bond was seized. Eggering was elected circuit clerk in November 2010 and took office in January 2011.“I don’t see any of this money,” Eggering explained. “It goes into the treasury of Warren County. I never received a benefit from it.”The class-action suit includes all present, former and future inmates in the Warren County Jail who, as a result of posting a cash bond to secure their release, involuntarily and without notice forfeited all or a portion of their cash bond to Warren County through the circuit clerk’s office for payment of housing fees.Circuit clerk dismissed from lawsuit