Court Opinion

ID: 9639277
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:10:47.33226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:34:47.064692
License: Public Domain

Francis, J.
(dissenting in part). I agree that the judgment of the Appellate Division should be reversed and that of the trial court affirmed.
The opinion of the Court, however, goes beyond the issues in the ease and in effect revises B. B. 4:87-3 and 3 of the Rules of Civil Practice, which regulate the procedure in contempt matters. There is no denying that the practice requires clarification, but I am inclined to think that revision in such an important area might more advantageously await study by the Rules Committee and, perhaps, consideration at a Judicial Conference. Pursuit of that course will give us the benefit of the many practical experiences of the trial bench and bar with the operation of the rules in their present form, and may produce a more just and perdurable practice. Of course, this court may proceed at once by the opinion process, as it has done here, to make any changes that seem desirable. But in such instances we should be certain that the new regulation (arrived at by way of interpretation) represents the best and most expeditious avenue to justice in the area under consideration. Because in my view that goal is not reached by the court’s opinion, I feel compelled to adhere to the existing interpretation of the pertinent rules which, in one particular at least, seem more responsive to the specific needs of the subject matter.
Generally, under the current practice when a court order is alleged to have been defied, an ex parte verified motion or petition seeking an order to show cause why the violator should not be adjudged in contempt is presented to the judge who issued the contemned order. The order to show cause when issued is made returnable before the judge who *353signed it. On the return day, at the outset of the proceeding, the court hears counsel for the parties as to whether the disobedience charged should be prosecuted as criminal contempt or, as the Chief Justice rightly says, under the misleading label of “civil” contempt. If he concludes that the contempt should be treated as criminal, then a prosecutor is appointed and the matter is referred to another judge for plenary hearing. R. R. 4:87-2(<2).
The important factor to be kept in mind in connection with the existing modus operandi is that except in rare instances on the return of the order to show cause the alleged offender has the opportunity to persuade the judge whose order was allegedly disobeyed, by way of argument (supported by affidavits, if he chooses), that the matter should not be charged or tried as a criminal affront to the dignity of the court. R. R. 4:87-3 imposes a mandate that a preliminary decision of that question shall be made. It says that “the court shall determine” etc., and its internal sense is that the determination shall be made in the presence of the parties involved. This valuable opportunity has grown up in the administration of the rule—as a matter of right, in my judgment, in view of the language used— and it ought not to be taken away by a new interpretation at this late date.
The construction now adopted for future application effectively removes the right to be heard on that important preliminary issue. The opinion gives the ear of- the court to one party alone as to whether the alleged violator of the order should be charged with a criminal contempt. The plain import of the language used is that henceforth the question whether to prosecute criminally should be decided by the court before it signs the order to show cause. With extremely infrequent exceptions (as where, for example, the judge might read of the disobedience of his order in the newspaper, and act on his own motion) the litigant, for whose advantage the order was executed, would instigate the proceedings. Thus, from this day forward, such an *354interested party will be allowed in ex parte fashion to seek and obtain through self-serving argument a decision that his adversary should be tried for criminal contempt and that the prestige of the court cannot be adequately vindicated by supplemental relief in aid of the allegedly contemned directive. As has been noted, the order to show cause in criminal contempt will be returnable before another judge. Obviously, the latter will proceed as directed and will regard the preliminary question as to whether the matter should be tried as a criminal infraction as having been settled by his colleague.
The departure from the existing practice authorized by the majority opinion is a substantial one. It violates the rule as my experience indicates it has been construed and administered. I agree that it would be more expedient to determine prior to issuance of the order to show cause whether the alleged transgression of the court’s order should be prosecuted as a criminal contempt. But having in mind the awesome contempt power of the court, I believe that under B. B. 4:87-3 and 3 in their present form such a grave question must be settled only after notice to the alleged contemnor and not ex parte.
Jacobs, J., votes to reverse on the merits for the reasons expressed in Part II of the majority opinion.
Francis, J., concurring in result.
For reversal—Chief Justice Weintraijb, and Justices Jacobs, Francis, Proctor, Hall and Haneman—6.
For affirmance—Hone.