Civil contempt may also be punished by a remedial fine, which compensates the party who won the injunction for the effects of his opponent's noncompliance. If a state agency refuses to adhere to a court order, a financial penalty may be the most effective means of insuring compliance. The principles of federalism that inform Eleventh Amendment doctrine surely do not require federal courts to enforce their decrees only by sending high state officials to jail. The less intrusive power to impose a fine is properly treated as ancillary to the federal court's power to impose injunctive relief. In this case, the award of attorney's fees for bad faith served the same purpose as a remedial fine imposed for civil contempt.
Bankruptcy courts have the statutory authority to punish civil contempts.
Consequently, based on the reasoning in Hutto , the Court believes it may award monetary sanctions against the defendant. For these reasons, the Court concludes the defendant is not immune from monetary damages if she is shown to have violated the automatic stay. The parties should now determine how they wish to proceed with the other issues to remaining in this case. The Clerk is hereby directed to set this case for a final pretrial conference as the state of the docket permits.