Opinion ID: 2330692
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Civil Versus Criminal Contempt

Text: The initial substantive question presented by this appeal is whether the Wellses' incarceration was the result of a civil or a criminal proceeding. A civil contempt proceeding is a coercive, and therefore remedial, action brought to benefit another party. The contemnor allegedly violated a court order directed toward securing the rights of another party. The contempt proceeding is brought to coerce compliance and to obtain for the other party the benefits of the court order. Small v. Small, 413 A.2d 1318, 1322 (Me.1980). Inherent in the coercive nature of the proceeding is the requirement that the contemnor be provided the opportunity to purge himself of contempt by complying with the order and thus secure relief from the court's coercive techniques. If the contemnor is jailed to coerce compliance, the order of commitment must affirmatively provide for release upon compliance with the order. Small v. Small, supra ; State v. Vickers, 309 A.2d 324 (Me.1973); Shillitani v. United States, 384 U.S. 364, 86 S.Ct. 1531, 16 L.Ed.2d 622 (1966). It is this essential right to purge and thus obtain release from confinement that allows civil contemnors to carry the keys of their prison in their own pockets. In re Nevitt, 117 F. 448, 461 (1902). The judgment creditor Sherman Adams argues that the December 16 contempt order contains the requisite right to purge by providing that the Wellses could avoid going to jail by paying the underlying judgment before the incarceration date. Such a provision does not constitute the right to purge required in a civil contempt order. Clearly the right to purge can have meaning only when the contemnor's compliance will obtain his release from the coercive confinement. Confinement without the potential for freedom through compliance amounts to punishment and can properly be imposed only through the vehicle of criminal contempt proceedings with the attendant due process safeguards. In the absence of a clear provision on the commitment order that the Wellses could obtain their release through compliance, their incarceration was unlawful. The purpose of a criminal contempt proceeding is to punish an affront to the dignity and authority of the Court or an obstruction to the functioning of the Court. The punishment is to vindicate the dignity and authority of the Court. Small, 413 A.2d at 1322; In re Bernard, 408 A.2d 1279 (Me.1979). If imprisonment is imposed, the sentence must be for a fixed term and there is no requirement of a right to purge. Meyer v. Meyer, 414 A.2d 236, 239 (Me.1980). There is also a temporal distinction between criminal and civil contempt. Although civil contempt proceedings may be initiated because of the past failure to comply with a court order, the focus of the proceeding is on achieving compliance in the near future, through the coercive confinement. Criminal contempt focuses solely on past disobedience and the punishment such disobedience merits. Because he cannot undo the past, there is no way for a criminal contemnor to purge himself, as can the civil contemnor. State ex rel. Calahan v. Powers, 97 Mich.App. 166, 293 N.W.2d 752 (1980); People v. Goodman, 17 Mich.App. 175, 169 N.W.2d 120 (1969). Finally, compliance with the requirements of M.R.Crim.P. 42 is essential to a valid criminal contempt commitment. Meyer, 414 A.2d at 239. Where, as here, the limited exception of Rule 42(a) is inapplicable, Rule 42(b) requires that criminal contempt be prosecuted only upon notice and hearing. The notice shall state the time and place of hearing, allowing reasonable time for the preparation of the defense, and shall state the essential facts constituting the criminal contempt charged and describe it as such. M.R.Crim.P. 42(b). The Wellses' contempt proceeding did not comply with Rule 42(b) despite the fixed unconditional sentence apparently imposed as punishment for past noncompliance. [4] The notice provided the Wellses was inadequate to inform them that they must stand ready to answer a charge of criminal contempt. The motion delivered to the Wellses states only that they are in arrears on their payments and moves that they be held in contempt. The contempt charged is nowhere described as criminal and cannot therefore constitute adequate notice under M.R.Crim.P. 42(b). Small, 413 A.2d at 1323. The punitive commitment is thus unlawful. [5]