Court Opinion

ID: 9537547
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:19:45.723127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:46.288945
License: Public Domain

RAPER, Justice,
Retired, dissenting.
I dissent.
There was no criminal contempt. There was no fine or penalty. The trial court in effect merely adjusted the decree distributing property between the parties. Where the cows and calf had been set over to appellee as part of the property division of the marital property, the court substituted cash, required the appellant to conform with the original decree in other particulars, and awarded attorney’s fees as he was authorized to do.
While the trial judge held appellant in contempt, his order allowed her to purge the contempt by following the court’s directive as indicated. To “purge” means to exonerate from contempt. Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed. (1979). It was not a penalty or fine to award appellee the cows and calf in the first place. It can hardly be considered punishment of appellant to require payment for their value instead when discovered that the animals belonged to someone else. She ignored the terms of the decree by selling the cows and calf. Before doing so, she should have petitioned the court for a modification. A court must be able to enforce its decrees. I cannot see that appellant has been hurt at all. She should pay attorney’s fees to appellee for appellant’s creating the problem in the first place and requiring him to come back into court. Attorney’s fees are permitted by § 20-2-111, W.S.1977.
In the light of the decision of the majority which now creates confusion in the law of contempt by converting civil contempt into criminal contempt, appellee is entitled to a modification of the divorce decree to recover the value of the cows and his attorney’s fees.
I would have affirmed.