Opinion ID: 2120575
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Civil Punitive Damage Award

Text: Omni next argues that the circuit court erroneously co-mingled civil and criminal contempt when it awarded $75,000 to 3D for Omni's civil contempt and made Papachristou's ability to purge his jail time conditioned on Omni's payment of that amount. We confess to some confusion over the contempt order. However, the circuit court, without question, found that Omni and Papachristou had willfully disobeyed its order of delivery. The court then found: 7. That because of the heretofore described actions of Omni and its managing officer, Tom Papachristou, Tom Papachristou is found guilty of criminal contempt and his hereby sentenced to serve sixty days in the jail at Crittenden County, Arkansas. 8. That because of the heretofore described actions of Omni and its managing officer, Tom Papachristou, Omni is hereby held in civil contempt of court, and 3D is awarded judgment from and against Omni in the amount of $75,000.00. Such award of $75,000.00 is found by the court to be in the nature of punitive damages against Omni. 9. That Tom Papachristou can purge himself of the criminal contempt sentence, and the time he is ordered by this court to serve in the Crittenden County jail, by immediately delivering to 3D all of the properties Omni was ordered to deliver including the aircraft described in paragraphs 4 and 5 herein as well as all the component parts of 3D's airplanes, including but not limited to engines, radios, GPS's and spray equipment, and other items which were not either delivered or were delivered in part only to 3D by Omni as reflected in the Report and Supplemental Report filed herein by 3D, with such parts and equipment being in proper, working condition at the time of such redelivery and the payment of $75,000.00 to 3D to make 3D whole for the value of the turbine engine parts on AT 6072Y that Tom Papachristou intentionally damaged and also substituted damaged component parts. Provided however that the delivery of these items to 3D shall in no way result in a purging of the award of $75,000.00 punitive damage against Omni and in favor of 3D unless such sum is paid. It first appears that the circuit court held Papachristou in criminal contempt with sixty days to serve in jail, but then the court's order provides that Papachristou can purge himself of this contempt by immediately delivering the planes, parts, and other items at issue to 3D. We conclude that the circuit court actually cited Papachristou for civil contempt in that the court was coercing Papachristou to abide by its order and providing a means by which the contempt could be purged. But the court also adds that Papachristou's purging must include a payment of $75,000 to 3D to make 3D whole for the value of the turbine engine parts on a plane that Papachristou intentionally damaged. Omni, on the other hand, is expressly held in civil contempt under the court's order, and 3D is awarded judgment from and against Omni in the amount of $75,000.00[,] which the court finds to be in the nature of punitive damages against Omni. Later, the court states in its order that the $75,000 is to make 3D whole for the value of the turbine engine parts on AT6072Y[.] At the end of its order, the court adds that the delivery of the planes, parts, and other items to 3D shall in no way result in a purging of the $75,000 in punitive damages awarded against Omni and in favor of 3D. Harking back to the discussion of contempt earlier in this opinion, a contempt fine for willful disobedience which is payable to the complainant is remedial, and therefore constitutes a fine for civil contempt, but if the fine is payable to the court, it is punitive and constitutes a fine for criminal contempt. See Hicks ex rel. Feiock v. Feiock, supra ; Fitzhugh v. State, supra . Here, the fine is to be paid to the complainant, and we conclude that it is for civil contempt. We disagree, though, with the circuit court that the purging of Papachristou's contempt can rest on Omni's payment of $75,000 to 3D. The keys to the jail in civil contempt must rest in the hands of the contemnor and not a third party. We, accordingly, modify the circuit court's contempt order to eliminate Omni's payment of $75,000 as a condition for Papachristou's release from jail. Papachristou's contempt can be purged solely by delivery of the planes, parts, and other items listed in the court's order. That leaves the issue of whether the award of $75,000 payable by Omni to 3D can be based on property damages awarded against Omni and in favor of 3D. A second question is whether the circuit court ordered $75,000 against Omni as a fine for contempt and then a second $75,000 to make 3D whole for property damage done to the turbine engine. Though the circuit court's order is somewhat ambiguous on this point, we believe, after reviewing the record, that the court's contempt order is a contempt fine against Omni, which was determined based on the damage done to 3D's turbine engine. Early on, the United States Supreme Court stated that when a contemnor has committed an act forbidden by the court, [t]he only possible remedial relief for such disobedience would have been to impose a fine for the use of complainant, measured in some degree by the pecuniary injury caused by the act of disobedience. Gompers v. Buck's Stove & Range Co., 221 U.S. 418, 444, 31 S.Ct. 492, 55 L.Ed. 797 (1911). The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded similarly when it stated that a contempt fine against an errant mortgage company for foreclosing too early seems to be of a dual nature, with both punitive and compensating purposes. Hubbard v. Fleet Mortgage Co., 810 F.2d 778, 782 (8th Cir.1987). The Eighth Circuit added: In contempt cases, the trial court has discretion to fashion the punishment to fit the circumstances. Id. Finally, this court has previously used compensatory damages as the measurement for fining the contemnor for violating a permanent injunction, which had enjoined the contemnor from discharging petroleum waste onto the complainant's property. See C.R.T., Inc. v. Brown, 269 Ark. 114, 602 S.W.2d 409 (1980). In C.R.T., Inc ., damage to the land caused by the additional petroleum waste became the measure of the contempt fine. Though the circuit court mislabeled the contempt fine in its order as punitive damages in the instant case, we hold that the contempt award against Omni was a fine for civil contempt in the amount of $75,000 measured in part by the damage to 3D's property. We conclude as we do because the fine for civil contempt was payable to 3D and was meant to be remedial and not to be a punishment payable to the court for criminal contempt. See Fitzhugh v. State, supra .