By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorA Warren County man who is challenging the practice of seizing cash bail bonds from Warren County jail inmates to pay for incarceration expenses is now pursuing his case in Warren County Circuit Court.Christopher Shive, Warren County, originally filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in October of 2011. He voluntarily dismissed that case in November of 2012.Shive has now filed a similar lawsuit in Warren County Circuit Court in which he alleges many of the same violations of law.Named as defendants in this case are Warren County and Warren County Circuit Clerk Brenda Eggering.The lawsuit seeks in excess of $5 million in actual damages on behalf of the proposed class from Warren County and Eggering as well as unspecified punitive damages.Eggering is represented by Philip Sholtz, assistant Missouri attorney general. Nanci Gonder, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, said she could not comment on matters related to pending litigation.Shive alleges that the circuit clerk used a portion of his cash bond for housing fees at the jail without his consent. Shive also alleges that inmates who posted surety bonds or property bonds did not have a portion of their bonds taken.According to court documents, 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 for housing fees while Shive was incarcerated in the county jail.The complaint contends that Eggering did not file a civil action seeking judgment against Shive for the housing fees while he was locked up. Shive maintains that his cash bond was posted only as a promise to reappear in order to be released from custody.In the lawsuit, Shive also says he never agreed to having $989 from his cash bond used as payment for housing. According to the lawsuit, Shive sought to contest the taking of a portion of his cash bond but was told by the circuit clerk that he could not contest the taking.Shive’s lawyers claim that Eggering and the county should have brought suit seeking judgment against the inmate for housing fees they believe are owed them and say there is no statutory authority that allows the defendants to seize funds from an inmate’s cash bond for housing fees.The suit claims the “manner in which the defendants seized the plaintiff’s and class’ funds is both illegal and procedurally and substantively unconscionable.”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. Attorneys for Shive estimate that thousands of inmates could be affected by the suit.The case is set for a hearing Jan. 21 at 3 p.m. in Warren County Circuit Court before Franklin County Associate Circuit Court Judge Stanley Williams who was appointed to hear the case by the Missouri Supreme Court.Attorneys are expected to argue a motion to dismiss Eggering from the lawsuit at Tuesday's hearing.Lawsuit seeks $5 million from county, circuit clerk