Opinion ID: 2366364
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The superior court's oral order

Text: The superior court also issued an oral order at the contempt hearing. Early in the hearing, Whittle expressed his view that the United States Constitution and the Alaska Constitution protected him against inspections and that and seizures and searches of his property without evidence of some inappropriate activity. The superior court tried to explain that Whittle has those protections only against the government, not against a private individual, and then returned to Whittle's previous statement that he would allow an inspection in November. Whittle reminded the superior court that he had withdrawn that offer when Weber moved to hold him in contempt. Then, after declining to hold Whittle in contempt for violating discovery, the superior court had the following exchange with Whittle: C: Mr. Whittle, what I am going to order is that you make your property available for the inspection and . . . if it doesn't get done within two weeks, you make it available. I don't care if you have anybody there, but you have to let their expert on. . . if you don't and you stand on your right to refuse to let that happen, then I will say that they automatically win that claim. Because that's the way  that is going to be sanction. . . . . W: Anyway, I'm going to stand on my constitutional rights. C: Okay. W: And if you have the authority to write a search and seizure warrant without my permission, then I have no control over that. But I will not agree to let them on my property, so . . . C: Okay. With that  if that's your position, then, I am going to enter the order that Mr. Weber has won that issue. (Emphasis added.) We consider two points as to whether Whittle's response to the superior court's oral order rises to the level of willful noncompliance with a discovery order. First, Whittle argued at the contempt hearing and maintains on appeal that he believed the superior court did not have the authority to order an inspection of his property without first having some proof of inappropriate activity, and that he believed agreeing to an inspection would allow the court to circumvent that constitutional requirement. Consistent with this belief, after Weber moved to hold Whittle in contempt, Whittle wanted Weber to present proof of inappropriate activity and withdrew his agreement to the inspection of his property. But Whittle's remarks seemed to recognize that if the trial court had the authority to write a search and seizure warrant without [Whittle's] permission, then [Whittle had] no control over that. Although Whittle maintained that he could not agree to let Weber on his property, the exchange, read as a whole, is certainly susceptible of more than one interpretation. Taken as a whole, Whittle's actions could be interpreted as indicating that he would only allow the inspection if ordered by the court to do so over his objection. When Whittle indicated to the superior court during the contempt hearing that he would not allow an inspection of his property, the court interpreted this statement to mean that Whittle would not comply with any further discovery orders and assumed that Whittle would not change his mind. We have upheld findings of willful noncompliance where the plaintiff made no effort to comply with the superior court's discovery orders and had demonstrated no intention of ever complying with the court's orders. [27] In this case, by contrast, Whittle did make an initial effort to comply with the superior court's written order by proposing inspection dates. Moreover, it does not seem clear from the contempt hearing exchange that Whittle had no intention of complying with the court's order; in fact, Whittle seemed to be waiting for the superior court to order the inspection over his objection. In any event, it was incumbent on the superior court to clarify whether Whittle would comply with the court's inspection order if entered over his objection before imposing any sanctions, much less litigation-ending sanctions. We therefore reverse the sanction and vacate the judgment entered against Whittle.