Opinion ID: 2376388
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Nature of This Suit

Text: Whether the defendants were entitled to a jury requires our first deciding the nature of this suit. The State urges that its right to recover penalties is occasioned by Credit Bureau's violation of an injunction and that the action is one for civil contempt in which there is no right to trial by jury. It is our opinion that the penalty section of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, article 5069, section 10.08 [2] shows that the suit is one for civil penalties and not contempt. Subsection (a) of that statute makes it a misdemeanor to attempt to avoid compliance with the Consumer Credit Commissioner's investigative powers by withholding, concealing or destroying any documentary material or merchandise. Subsection (b) applies to failures to comply with the Commissioner's civil investigative demand for documentary material, reports, examination under oath, or examination of merchandise. Significantly, subsection (b) makes disobedience of any court order entered under article 5069, section 10.08 punishable as contempt of that order. [3] Subsection (c), however, relates to punishment for violation of an injunction issued under article 5069, section 10.04. It contains no reference to contempt, but clearly refers to civil penalties. Thus, the Legislature has enacted an enforcement scheme which embraces convictions for misdemeanors in some instances, punishment for contempt in some instances and suits for payment of civil penalties in others. The Legislature chose to adopt a remedy of civil penalties in the case of a violation of an injunction. We must next determine whether an action to enforce civil penalties under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act is one to which the right to a trial by jury attaches. Since the Act is silent about the right to a jury, we must determine whether the Texas Constitution fixes the right. The Texas Constitution contains two separate provisions regarding the right of trial by jury. The first is Article I, Section 15, found in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution; [4] the second is Article V, Section 10, contained in the Judiciary Article. [5]