ROY ROWLS, PETITIONER,
v.
EDDIE BOONE, SHERIFF OF LEON COUNTY, MARIE A. ROWLS, VALLERIE ANDREWS, AND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, RESPONDENTS
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Roy Rowls petitioned for habeas corpus after being imprisoned for contempt of court for failure to pay child support. The Florida appellate court granted the petition and ordered his discharge because the circuit court had not yet rendered a written order constituting the legal authority for his imprisonment.
A contempt order imprisoning a person must be reduced to a written judgment and entered of record. Until such judgment is formally entered, there is no competent legal authority for imprisonment, and a petition for habeas corpus should be granted.
[1] A court speaks through its orders and judgments regularly rendered, and until a judgment is entered of record, there is no competent evidence of its rendition.
[2] Imprisonment for contempt of court requires a written order or judgment of contempt that has been rendered and entered of record.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“the circuit court speaks through its orders and judgments regularly rendered, and "until that judgment is entered of record there is no competent evidence of such rendition."”
Establishes the core holding that a contempt order must be formally entered in writing to be valid authority for imprisonment.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRoy Rowls was imprisoned on February 9, 1983, by order of the circuit court for contempt of court based on failure to pay previously ordered child sup…
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PER CURIAM.
The petition for writ of habeas corpus of Roy Rowls, filed February 9, 1983, avers that Rowls was imprisoned on that day by order of the circuit court finding him in contempt of court for failure to pay child support previously ordered, and that the circuit court’s order that is the authority for his imprisonment lacks essential findings as required by Faircloth v. Faircloth, 339 So. 2d 650 (Fla.1976), and Hammond v. Sandstrom, 376 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979).
The sheriff’s return to our order to show cause, filed February 11, 1983, by counsel for the party to whom the payments were to have been made, presents us no written evidence of a circuit court order or judgment constituting authority for the imprisonment of Rowls, but explains that the requisite findings were “expressly stated in the order of the trial judge and will be reflected in the written order of the trial judge upon its rendition.” Evidently there is no record of the “order of the trial judge” on authority of which Rowls was taken into custody, and no record of that order will become available until “the written order of the trial judge” is rendered. In such proceedings as these, perhaps for stronger reasons than in other cases, the circuit court speaks through its orders and judgments regularly rendered, and “until that judgment is entered of record there is no competent evidence of such rendition.” See Braren v. Lawyers’ Realty Abstract Co. of Sarasota, 196 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967), cert. disch., 206 So. 2d 385 (Fla.1968), quoting Ellis v. State, 100 Fla. 27, 129 So. 106 (Fla.1930).
See also Faircloth, supra.
The petition for writ of habeas corpus is GRANTED and Rowls will immediately be discharged from custody until he may be taken into custody on authority of a judgment of contempt rendered by the circuit court.
ROBERT P. SMITH, Jr., C.J., and LARRY G. SMITH and JOANOS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Rayburn Paulk v. Braxton, 562 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…r civil contempt in light of that stipulation clearly would have been improper, Bowen v. Bowen, 471 So. 2d 1274 (Fla.1985). Incarceration based on subsequently accruing ar-rearages was impermissible in the absence of a written order, Rowls v. Boone, 427 So. 2d 220 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983). Finally, no showing was made that the bankruptcy court had lifted its stay as to the efforts of former wife’s former counsel to collect a fee and therefore the circuit court apparently was barred from enforcement of that indebte…1 / 2
Authorities Cited
- Faircloth v. Faircloth, 339 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 1976)
- Ellis v. State, 100 Fla. 27 (Fla. 1930)
- Hammond v. Sandstrom, 376 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
- Braren v. Lawyers' Realty Abstract Co. OF Sarasota, 196 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967)
- Cleary Bros. Constr. Co. & Corporate Grp. Serv., Inc. v. Lanier, 206 So. 2d 385 (Fla. 1968)
- Braren v. Lawyers' Realty Abstract Co. OF Sarasota, 206 So. 2d 385 (Fla. 1968)