Court Opinion

ID: 9720005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:12:37.521081+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:12.202360
License: Public Domain

GOERTZEN, J.,
Concurring and Dissenting. —I concur in the majority’s result but not in their citation of one authority nor in their decision to publish.
This case, simply put, involves the failure of the trial court judge to initiate an indirect contempt proceeding with an affidavit setting forth the *1290facts on which the contempt charge is based as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 1211.
I agree with the majority that the affidavit is mandatory under the language of Code of Civil Procedure section 1211. I do not agree with the majority’s reliance on the case of Ryan v. Commission on Judicial Performance (1988) 45 Cal.3d 518 [247 Cal.Rptr. 378, 754 P.2d 724, 76 A.L.R.4th 951]. That case involved the disciplining of a judge who, among other things, found a party guilty of contempt based on unsworn testimony in chambers and without any affidavit. In our case, the trial judge had a hearing in open court with the witnesses to the alleged contempt present. While those witnesses were originally unsworn, the trial judge corrected this later by having said witnesses sworn and asking them under oath to affirm their earlier testimony, which both witnesses did. In fact, one of the witnesses, who was a juror, felt he was still under the oath he took when sworn as a juror.
As indicated, I agree with the majority that the absence of the required affidavit is fatal to the contempt proceedings in this case; but to rely on the Ryan case, supra, is not necessary and carries an unwarranted inference as to the scope of the trial judge’s error in this case. The trial judge had a defendant who one day was twenty-five minutes late, and who, the next day, made a comment to a juror notwithstanding the trial court’s clear instructions that such communications were not to be had. The trial judge felt that in affording a hearing where the witnesses made statements and were subject to cross-examination, and the defendant was afforded an opportunity to present evidence as to the alleged contemptuous communication, he had substantially complied with Code of Civil Procedure section 1211.
Certainly, the trial judge in our case acted in good faith. His conduct in no way merits comparison to the manner in which the trial judge in Ryan v. Commission on Judicial Performance conducted his contempt matter. Furthermore, this case clearly fails to meet any criteria warranting its publication pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 976.