Opinion ID: 1656248
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged Willful Violation of the Decree of Dissolution.

Text: In our consideration of this issue, we reject at the outset Mavis's claim that the record is insufficient, as a matter of law, to support a finding of contempt with respect to her failure to abide the provisions of the July 6, 1982 dissolution decree. That decree specifically dealt with rights of possession and not, as Mavis claims, merely with title. Although no direct order was contained in the decree requiring Mavis to vacate the premises within a given period of time, her knowledge of its terms, if sufficiently established, would, in view of the substantial attendant delay, support a finding of willful violation if the court chose to draw that inference. There are, however, many procedural obstacles which confront the effort of defendant to sustain the contempt order based on the original dissolution decree. Mavis had been ordered to appear and show cause in Law No. 24575, the ejectment action, as a result of Maynard's affidavit that she had willfully violated the court's orders in that action. When she appeared for this purpose, an effort was then made by Maynard, without any additional affidavits and without asking the court to issue another order to show cause, to have Mavis punished for violation of the court's decree in No. DMI 796, an entirely different action. The foregoing procedural irregularities strike us as being sufficient cause for granting Mavis's request that she not be required to defend against the newly injected claims with only five minutes to prepare. [2] As we indicated in Lutz, 297 N.W.2d at 353, in order to punish for contempt a court must strictly comply with the applicable statutory directives. These statutes do not contemplate the filing of pleadings which may be amended as of right prior to answer. See Iowa Code § 665.7 (1983). We also disagree with the conclusions of the defendant judge and the court of appeals that no new issues were being injected into the contempt proceedings. From Mavis's standpoint, instead of being required to justify only a few days noncompliance with a court order, she was now required to justify noncompliance of more than twenty-two months with a different court order. Considerable support for our view as to the prejudice thus generated may be found in Mavis's inability at the hearing to recall important facts and chronology surrounding the entry of the dissolution decree in her absence and without her knowledge, and the time and manner in which she was subsequently advised concerning how that decree affected her right of possession. We find on the record presented that the defendant judge should have granted Mavis's request for additional time to prepare both legal and factual defenses to Maynard's newly injected contention. Such failure requires that the finding of contempt be set aside without prejudice to further proceedings in the district court not inconsistent with this opinion. The decision of the court of appeals is vacated. The writ of certiorari is sustained. The finding and order of contempt issued by the defendant judge is annulled. DECISION OF COURT OF APPEALS VACATED; WRIT SUSTAINED.