Opinion ID: 6260603
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellant’s Contempt of the Final Decree

Text: Despite this Court’s affirmance of the Final Decree, appellant persisted in his refusal to cooperate in terminating the English action. Accordingly, on June 20, 1967, after a hearing, the tidal court issued a supplementary order directing appellant to take all necessary steps to procure the termination of the English action by July 31, 1967, or be fined $100,000 for contempt. Yet by August 10, 1967, appellant had not complied with the direction of the Final Decree and the supplementary order of June 20,1967. Consequently the trial court, after a hearing, imposed a $100,000 fine upon appellant for his contempt. By August 29, 1967, appellant had still failed to take the steps necessary for the termination of the English action, and the trial court issued another supplementary order directing appellant to cooperate in terminating the English action. By November 17, 1967, appellant had still failed to comply, and after another hearing the trial court imposed an additional fine of $150,000 upon appellant for his contempt. As late as March 7, 1988, the trial court found that appellant had still not carried out his obligation to take the steps necessary to terminate the English action. The court noted: “The fines aggregating $250,000 imposed upon defendant . . . are imposed by way of civil contempt in vindication of the plaintiff’s established rights. The Court retains jurisdiction of the parties and of the cause to continue supervision of the carrying out of the Final Decree of October 18, 1965, and in the event of defendant’s ultimate compliance with the Decree he may apply for remission of the fines imposed against him subject to plaintiff’s right of damages including all expenses and attorney fees.” Throughout this period appellant also ignored the second half of the Final Decree by refusing to offer his shares for registration. Appellant pursued another appeal to this Court from the trial court’s orders imposing the fines for contempt. On February 10, 1969, this Court in Bata II affirmed the trial court’s orders imposing the conditional fines. We described the record below as one that “for literally volumes sets out the disdain with which the decrees and orders of the courts of this Commonwealth were treated.” 6 We concluded that in light of “appellant’s continuing course of defiance . . . there was little that the court below could do other than to issue its contempt order. There certainly can be no doubt that the order was completely within the court’s discretion.” 7