Court Opinion

ID: 9789390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:35:50.262309+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:22.232217
License: Public Domain

Dore, J.
(dissenting) — I am disturbed by the cavalier manner in which the majority reinstates the judgment of contempt entered against Hugh Brown. I believe the notice given to the plaintiff was deficient, and that the trial court, in issuing the contempt order, exceeded its jurisdiction.
It is a fundamental principle of justice that an individual must receive adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard before a judgment can be entered against him. What constitutes adequate notice in any given situation sufficient to meet this due process requirement will vary. Thus, as the majority points out, '"[t]he procedural safeguards afforded *337in each situation should be tailored to the specific function to be served by them.'" Majority opinion, at 334, quoting Olympic Forest Prods., Inc. v. Chaussee Corp., 82 Wn.2d 418, 423, 511 P.2d 1002 (1973). If the procedural safeguards are inadequate, then the court lacks jurisdiction over the defendant and cannot enter a valid order against him. See Ware v. Phillips, 77 Wn.2d 879, 468 P.2d 444 (1970).
Furthermore, the notice given to a party being sued may limit a court's jurisdiction. A judgment for default cannot grant more relief than is alleged in the complaint. Sceva Steel Bldgs., Inc. v. Weitz, 66 Wn.2d 260, 401 P.2d 980 (1965).
a defendant has a right to allow a default to be taken against him secure in the knowledge that the judgment or decree will not exceed the demand of the complaint. The principle upon which such a rule rests is that the court is without jurisdiction to grant relief beyond that which the allegations and prayer of the complaint may seek. If, upon the hearing of the matter before the court, the complaining party desires additional relief, or if the court feels that other or additional relief should be awarded, the defendant is entitled to have notice given to him and an opportunity to be heard on the merits thereof; otherwise, he is denied procedural due process of law in violation of § 3, Art. I, of our constitution.
State ex rel. Adams v. Superior Court, 36 Wn.2d 868, 872, 220 P.2d 1081 (1950).
When applying these principles to the case before us, it is clear that Hugh Brown did not have adequate notice of the contempt proceedings to justify an award of $50,000 damages. The action brought against Brown was for civil contempt of court to compel Brown to turn over certain corporate records. This type of contempt action is not designed to punish the offender, but rather, "to coerce him into obeying the mandate of the court." Arnold v. National Union of Marine Cooks Ass'n, 41 Wn.2d 22, 27, 246 P.2d 1107 (1952). A person accused of being in contempt of court receives a show cause order, requiring him to appear in *338court, and explain "why he should not be adjudged in contempt of Court for his failure to comply [with the court order he allegedly has violated] ..." See footnote 1. Appearance at this show cause hearing is mandatory; a defendant can be imprisoned for failure to comply with the show cause order. RCW 7.20.110.
A person receiving a show cause notice instituting a contempt proceedings must therefore contemplate the following penalties would result if he did not appear: (1) the court could hold the defendant in contempt, (2) the court could order the person imprisoned, (3) the court could impose a fine for failure to obey, with additional penalties for further disobedience, and (4) the party instituting the contempt procedure could receive indemnity for any damages caused by the contempt. See RCW 7.20.100. Any penalties a court may order in addition to the ones described exceed the court's jurisdiction, and are of no effect, because the defendant would not have any notice of the additional claims being asserted. Put another way, the aggrieved party cannot receive judgment on different or underlying claims giving rise to the contempt proceedings (except that necessary for indemnification) without violating the defendant's due process rights.
The corporation received damages of $50,000 and $8,000 attorney fees in the contempt order. There is absolutely no record of any evidence presented to the court entering the contempt order that the corporation suffered this amount of damages by Brown's failure to comply with the court's order. Report of Proceedings, at 43. There was neither an underlying action nor a default against Brown. Only 29 days had passed between the original demand on Brown to turn over the documents and the date the contempt order was entered. The corporation which had remained inactive and apparently conducted no business simply could not have required $50,000 for indemnification.2 It is obvious *339therefore that the $50,000 represented a judgment against Brown for an underlying action for damages relating to his questionable dealings with the corporation. It should not have been included in the contempt order.
The majority, however, holds that the amount of damages should be allowed. The majority claims that the question of how much actual damage was suffered cannot be challenged in this collateral attack to the contempt proceedings. Majority opinion, at 335. Such an attack, brought under CR 60(b), does not authorize vacation of a judgment for what the majority describes as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.
This is clearly erroneous. As no evidence whatsoever was presented to show the corporation suffered this damage because of the contempt, and common sense unquestionably tells us that an inactive corporation did not suffer $50,000 injury for a 29-day failure to turn over corporate records, the question is not whether or not sufficient evidence justified such an order. Rather, the question is whether or not the court entering the contempt order had the jurisdiction to order damages in favor of a corporation far in excess of the amount of injury the corporation had suffered by Brown's contempt. Obviously it did not.
I therefore would hold that such an order was void for lack of jurisdiction. The notice given to Brown was patently inadequate to apprise him of the possibility of such a large damage award. The corporation impermissibly used the contempt order to obtain a judgment against Brown for an underlying cause of action.
I would affirm the holding of the second trial court vacating the earlier contempt order's award of $50,000 to the corporation. That award represents damages for a separate claim which was never filed against Brown. To allow such an award, as the majority does, transforms a contempt *340proceeding into a decision for a wholly separate claim, without giving the defendant notice this will occur. I dissent to such a holding, as this transformation unquestionably violates the defendant's due process rights.
Andersen and Goodloe, JJ., concur with Dore, J.
Reconsideration denied August 28, 1986.

 I further question the correctness of an $8,000 attorney fee verdict. However, since the corporation doubtlessly spent a significant amount of attorney time *339instituting the civil contempt action, mere insufficiency of the evidence does not justify this court in disallowing the fees. CR 60(b). I would grudgingly allow this award.