Opinion ID: 1386400
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Decree Was Ambiguous with Respect to Gotham's Conduct

Text: The Supreme Court has cautioned that contempt is a powerful weapon under any circumstance and, when founded on a decree that the defendant could not comprehend, it can be a ruinous one. Int'l Longshoremen's Ass'n v. Phil. Marine Trade Ass'n, 389 U.S. 64, 76, 88 S.Ct. 201, 19 L.Ed.2d 236 (1967). To ensure fair notice to the defendant, the decree underlying contempt must be sufficiently clear to allow the party to whom it is addressed to ascertain precisely what it can and cannot do. King v. Allied Vision Ltd., 65 F.3d 1051, 1058 (2d Cir.1995); N.Y. State Nat'l Org. for Women v. Terry, 886 F.2d 1339, 1351-52 (2d Cir.1989); see also Fed. R.Civ.P. 65(d) (requiring injunctive orders to be specific in terms and describe in reasonable detail . . . the act or acts sought to be restrained); Phil. Marine, 389. U.S. at 74-76, 88 S.Ct. 201 (reversing contempt based on injunctive decree that did not satisfy the specificity and clarity requirements set forth in Rule 65); Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters, 899 F.2d at 146. We agree with the Secretary that the incorporation into the consent judgment of certain provisions of the FLSA does not, by itself, render the decree ambiguous. McComb v. Jacksonville Paper Co., 336 U.S. 187, 191-92, 69 S.Ct. 497, 93 L.Ed. 599 (1949). The proper measure of clarity, however, is not whether the decree is clear in some general sense, but whether it unambiguously proscribes the challenged conduct. Perez v. Danbury Hosp., 347 F.3d 419, 424 (2d Cir.2003). If, as we believe to be the case here, the law relied on by the party seeking contempt is ambiguous in its application to the challenged conduct, contempt will not lie. See, e.g., Rajah Auto Supply Co. v. Grossman, 207 F. 84 (2d Cir.1913) (per curiam) (affirming denial of contempt motion where plaintiffs case was too doubtful on the facts and the law to warrant contempt); United States ex rel. IRS v. Norton, 717 F.2d 767, 774 (3d Cir.1983) ([A]ny ambiguity in the law should be resolved in favor of the party charged with contempt.); Project B.A.S.I.C. v. Kemp, 947 F.2d 11, 16 (1st Cir.1991) (stating prudential rule that ambiguities in court orders should be read in light favorable to party charged with contempt); cf. Vertex Distrib. v. Falcon Foam Plastics, Inc., 689 F.2d 885, 889 (9th Cir.1982) (explaining that party should not be held in contempt if his actions appear based on a good faith and reasonable interpretation of the order). It should be apparent that the novel question addressed above, whether employees must be paid overtime wages for work that their employer has prohibited and does not desire, was not the subject of an obvious answer. On the contrary, when the Secretary brought its petition for contempt to the district court, there was a substantial question as to the legality of Gotham's overtime arrangement and fair ground of doubt as to the wrongfulness of the defendant's conduct. Cal. Artificial Stone Paving Co. v. Molitor, 113 U.S. 609, 618, 5 S.Ct. 618, 28 L.Ed. 1106 (1885); King, 65 F.3d at 1058. From another angle, it seems unreasonable that Gotham be required, on pain of contempt, to arrive at a correct answer to such a difficult question of first impression. See Radio Corp. of Am. v. Cable Radio Tube Corp., 66 F.2d 778, 782-83 (2d Cir. 1933) (noting potential unfairness to defendant where contempt proceedings used to resolve substantial dispute); United States v. Accetturo, 842 F.2d 1408, 1416 n. 4 (3d Cir.1988) (suggesting trial court consider relief from contempt in circumstances of case of first impression). But cf. Apple Computer, Inc. v. Formula Int'l, Inc., 594 F.Supp. 617, 623 (C.D.Cal.1984) (issuing contempt order despite novel nature of underlying legal issue after finding defendant's alleged interpretation was a mere pretext to avoid an injunction).