Court Opinion

ID: 9631878
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:53:41.63185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:29:53.907713
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I dissent.
In my opinion the judgment of contempt should be annulled for two reasons: (1) The insufficiency of the affidavit upon which the order to show cause in re contempt was based; and (2) the uncertainty and ambiguity of the injunction which has allegedly been violated.

Insufficiency of the Affidavit

The affidavit of John T. Leggett, assistant sanitary engineer of the Bureau of Sanitary Engineering of the State Department of Public Health of Los Angeles, does not allege the date on which petitioners were required to comply with the terms of the judgment of January, 1946. The judgment provides as follows: “It is further Ordered, Adjudged And Decreed that as to those corporate defendants who do not adopt some method of disposing of sewage originating in the *523corporate limits of such defendants other than a new treatment works at Hyperion, that such defendant shall, within ninety days after the entry of this decree, have filed an application with the State Department of Public Health of the State of California for a permit to discharge its sewage through a proposed new treatment plant to be built at Hyperion, and that such defendants shall have by said time completed all arrangements necessary for the financing of its proportionate share of said new treatment plant or works according to the gallonage allotted to said corporation so that said share will be available as required.” The affidavit sets forth a statement to the effect that an appeal was taken from said judgment to the District Court of Appeal, and was affirmed on February 11, 1948; that petitioners sought certiorari in the United States Supreme Court which was denied in October, 1948, and “that the judgment of this Court is now final.” There is no allegation that the 90-day period commenced to run from any particular time, or that it has now expired. In In re McDonald, 217 Cal. 29, 31 [16 P.2d 995], it was held that personal knowledge of the existence and status of a decree must be alleged. The affidavit contains an allegation that all “of said persons named above has personal knowledge of all the terms and provisions of said judgment,” but it was held by this court in Phillips v. Superior Court, 22 Cal.2d 256 [137 P.2d 838], that an allegation that the citee had actual knowledge of a judgment in an action to which he was a party is not sufficient to show that he had knowledge that the judgment had been affirmed on appeal and had become final.
Petitioners also contend, and, in my opinion with merit, that the affidavit is insufficient because it did not allege (nor was there testimony to the effect) that they intended to violate the injunction relying on Hutton v. Superior Court, 147 Cal. 156, 160 [81 P. 409], wherein it was said: “Contempt proceedings are quasi-criminal in their nature, and an intent to commit a forbidden act is as essential to guilt as in the case of a charge of a criminal offense.” The majority answers this contention by saying that it is sufficient if it appears from the affidavit “as it does here, that the citeés, with knowledge of the injunction and with ability to comply, did not obey it. ’' The effect of the two errors is to allow a judgment of contempt to rest upon two assumptions—that the petitioners had knowledge of the time the 90-day period commenced to run and intended to violate the injunction. The majority bases its *524finding of intention to violate the injunction on its assumption of petitioners’ knowledge of the time within which the 90-day period was to run.
The California courts have held that reviewing courts are to construe the affidavit in a contempt proceeding very strictly in favor of the accused and that no intendments are indulged in aid of its sufficiency (In re Felthoven, 75 Cal.App.2d 465, 470 [171 P.2d 47] ; Frowley v. Superior Court, 158 Cal. 220, 224 [110 P. 817].) In the Felthoven case it was said that1 ‘ The affidavit, the order to show cause, the evidence and the findings in a contempt of court proceeding are to be strictly construed in favor of the accused, and the presumption in favor of the regularity of the proceedings and the judgment does not apply in contempt matters.” Yet the majority here is assuming facts in order to fill the gaps in the affidavit and thus uphold the judgment. Since a contempt proceeding is “quasi-criminal” in nature (Sutton v. Superior Court, 147 Cal. 156 [81 P. 409]) this method of affirmance can hardly be said to be in accordance with recognized principles of due process of law. Another inference drawn by the majority is that E. J. Furlong, who did not become a councilman until 1948, knew of the course of the action because of his official capacity. The original judgment was rendered in January, 1946, but Mr. Furlong is imprisoned because of an inference which the majority says must have occurred because of his position. In Lindsley v. Superior Court, 76 Cal.App. 419, 425 [245 P. 212], it was said that the affidavit must set forth not merely the ultimate facts, but the facts themselves. This would seem to be more than applicable here.

Insufficiency of the Injunction

I have quoted the judgment in the first part of this dissent. It makes no provision for the amount of money that these petitioners shall make “all arrangements necessary” to raise, and remains silent with respect to whom it shall be paid. The majority opinion points out that resort may be had to the findings of fact and conclusions of law to clarify any uncertainty or ambiguity in an injunction (Gelfand v. O’Haver, 33 Cal.2d 218, 222 [200 P.2d 790]) and concludes that these findings and conclusions, together with the pleadings, make it clear that the money is to be paid to the eity of Los Angeles, that the findings set forth a definite formula for computation of Vernon’s share of the cost of the sewage disposal plant. The findings and conclusions are not included in the record before this court, and resort must be had to the ease of People *525v. City of Los Angeles, 83 Cal.App.2d 627 [189 P.2d 489] (affirming the judgment in the public nuisance action) where they are partially set forth. It appears to me that the record in this case must speak for itself. If petitioners are to be found guilty of contempt committed because of an alleged violation of a judgment which, in order to be construed, must be interpreted in the light of the findings of fact and conclusions of law which preceded it, it would appear to me that the burden is being placed on petitioners to prove themselves not guilty of the charges against them. This is contrary to settled principles of law. Conceding that the majority is correct in assuming that resort may be had to the findings of fact and conclusions of law to explain the judgment, it does not follow that this rule is applicable to a case such as this where the findings and conclusions are not a part of the record in the contempt proceeding. In fact, even though resort is had to the decision of the District Court of Appeal on the appeal from the judgment in which the injunction was granted, it is impossible to determine therefrom what, specifically, defendants are required to do in order to comply with the injunction.
Where in the judgment is to be found a statement of Vernon’s proportionate share, which is to be fixed according “to the gallonage allotted to said corporation”? In order to determine what Vernon’s share is, it is necessary, according to the majority, for petitioners to go back to the findings of fact and conclusions of law filed in the nuisance action and use the formula there set forth. Even if this were possible, I do not believe such a burden can lawfully be imposed upon citees in a contempt action. But, assuming that such a burden may be imposed, there is still no definite or ascertainable and fixed amount which petitioners can be said to be required to raise. In 1946, petitioners’ share of the cost of the plant “based upon estimates known to it at the time of the entry of the decree would have been $901,250. ... In October, 1949, Los Angeles demanded $1,814,952.60 as Vernon’s share.” It appears that the original estimate of the total cost of the project was to have been $21,000,000, but according to the Leggett affidavit such an amount has already been exceeded although the plant was then only 50 per cent complete, indicating a probable total cost of some $43,000,000 and, in light of the change in economic conditions, a possible total cost of many millions more. Petitioners are to be jailed and fined for failing to raise an indefinite and unascertained amount of money to be available as required. I agree with *526petitioners who ask 11 available to whom, when and where, and how much?” The majority admits that petitioners cannot be guilty of contempt if the injunction which they violated is so uncertain that they could not determine what it required them to do. If petitioners are to be found guilty of contempt because of a violation of the injunction, interpreted in the light of the findings of fact, it appears to me that they may only be held liable for Vernon’s share of the estimated cost of $21,000,000, because that is the estimate on which the formula is based and which appears in People v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 83 Cal.App.2d 627, at page 637. The record does not show that any demand was made on them for any sum approximating this amount.
If petitioners are to be held to a proportionate share of the total cost of the plant which, at the time of the commencement of this proceeding, was only 50 per cent complete and had already exceeded the total estimated amount, then this action is premature. There is no possible way for petitioners to know what Vernon’s proportionate share will be when the sewage plant is completed.
The majority opinion in this case is a typical illustration of the saying that “hard cases make bad law.” Because, as a matter of public welfare, the sewage disposal plant is necessary, petitioners are to be imprisoned and fined for relying on the law as set forth in the eases heretofore decided which have held that the affidavit in a contempt action must set forth the facts with particularity, and that the judgment allegedly violated must be sufficiently certain so that it could be carried into effect.
From the foregoing it appears that the majority opinion violates recognized concepts of law applicable to contempt proceedings in order to reach a result, the justness and soundness of which is, to say the least, questionable. I cannot, therefore, subscribe to such holding and would annul the order here under review.
The opinion was modified to read as above printed and petitioners’ application for a rehearing was denied April 2, 1952. Carter, J., was of the opinion that the application should be granted.