Court Opinion

ID: 9674311
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:26:21.214347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:26.844313
License: Public Domain

On Rehearing.
PER CURIAM:
On relators’ motion we granted a rehearing. Relators had earlier filed here a motion for an order staying the injunction pending the appeal. The case was reargued and additional authorities cited. Thereafter we stayed the injunction, conditioned, however, on the filing of an additional bond of $200,000 to cover payment of all costs, interest, and damages found due plaintiff from May 15, 1966, until final disposition of the case. We have now been informed the additional bond has been filed and approved in the trial court, which has ordered the injunction stayed in accord with our order. None of this had occurred when the original opinion was adopted herein.
We hold to our order that the provisional rule be discharged and the writ of prohibition be denied.
Whatever may have been the case earlier, relators are not now violating the injunction. The prayer of plaintiff’s petition below for an order to show cause why relators should not be held in contempt was for an order citing relators and for such damages as plaintiff had suffered by the actions of relators in violating the injunction, including attorneys’ fees and costs. As in State ex rel. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Bland, 189 Mo. 197, 88 S.W. 28, the chief purpose in moving for the contempt citation was a remedial and coercive one. Plaintiff wanted damages, preservation of the life of its injunction, and a halt to rela-tors’ continuation of manufacture and sale of the prohibited products. Plaintiff was seeking action to secure its rights awarded by the court. It was thus seeking a commitment of civil, not criminal, contempt. This aspect of the matter has now become moot. The new bond gives plaintiff protection against the infringement of the injunction which occurred during the time when relators were proceeding under the mistaken belief the supersedeas bond would stay the injunction. There is no longer any need for a compensatory fine, or damages, or for a commitment to enforce the judgment of the court.
There can be contempts in which both civil and criminal elements appear, Curtis v. Tozer (Mo.App.) 374 S.W.2d 557, 569; State ex rel. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Bland, supra; 43 Col.L.Rev. 780, although it seems highly unlikely that a criminal contempt is involved in the circumstances as they appear on the present record. However, if there remains a need to vindicate the authority of the court, the trial court has jurisdiction to proceed with such inquiry upon a hearing. If such course is embarked upon, we can assume, as pointed out in the original opinion, the trial court will proceed in accordance with the requirements of Sec. 476.140, supra, and Rule 35.01.
All concur except STORCKMAN, J., absent.