IN RE CONTEMPT OF JACK R. ELROD. IN RE THE INTEREST OF K.N.L.
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A trial court held an adult male in indirect criminal contempt for violating a no-contact order with a delinquent minor. The appellate court affirmed, holding that although the court lacked jurisdiction to directly order the third party, it had authority under Florida statute to punish him for interfering with its valid order directed to the juvenile.
The court affirmed the contempt adjudication. Although the trial court lacked direct jurisdiction to order the third party to refrain from contact, it had authority under Florida Statutes Section 39.13 to punish any person interfering with the administration of the juvenile justice act. A third party with notice of a court order can be held in contempt for knowingly interfering with that order and aiding the subject of the order.
[1] A court cannot enforce its orders through contempt proceedings if the orders were rendered without jurisdiction over the subject matter or the parties.
[2] A person may disobey a court order if the order transcends the court's power or authority, even if the court has jurisdiction over the subject matter and parties.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a court does not have the contempt powers to enforce violations of its orders if they are rendered without jurisdiction over the subject matter or the parties”
Establishes the general rule limiting contempt jurisdiction
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA delinquent minor female was ordered by the trial court to have no contact with an adult male, and vice versa. The adult male knowingly ignored this …
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LETTS, Judge.
Before us is an appeal from a trial judge’s order adjudging a third party to be in indirect criminal contempt. We affirm.
The delinquent minor female in this case persisted in a continuing relationship with an adult male resulting in an order that the child was to have “no contact with [the adult male] and he is to have no contact with her.” The record reveals that ignoring the trial court’s directives has been par for the course in this particular matter and so it was on this occasion because the relationship continued. As a result, the trial court held the adult male to be in indirect criminal contempt and he now appeals claiming that since he was not a party to the proceedings concerning the delinquency of the child, the court had no jurisdiction to find him in contempt.
We begin by agreeing that a court does not have the contempt powers to enforce violations of its orders if they are rendered without jurisdiction over the subject matter or the parties. See State ex rel. Everette v. Petteway, 179 So. 666 (Fla. 1938). Likewise, a person may safely disobey the command of a court even though it has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties, if it attempts to enter a particular order that transcends its power or authority. On the other hand, one charged with contempt cannot defend by showing that the order was merely erroneous as distinguished from void. Health Clubs, Inc. v. State ex rel. Eagan, 377 So. 2d 28 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979).
In the present case, the trial court clearly was without jurisdiction to order the adult male to refrain from any contact with the delinquent child; therefore, its attempt to enforce the order by adjudicating him in contempt of court for violating would, on that basis, be void. See State v. S.M.G., 313 So. 2d 761 (Fla.1975), where the supreme court held that the juvenile court acted beyond its authority by issuing an order directing the mother of a delinquent child to participate in a drug rehabilitation program. In that case, the supreme court reasoned that the juvenile court is one of limited jurisdiction, delineated under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes (1971), which only authorizes the court to order parents of delinquent children to pay the person or institution having custody, reasonable sums for the child’s care, support and maintenance. Thus, the supreme court concluded that the juvenile court lacked the power to order a parent of a delinquent child to do any other act and, therefore, had no authority to punish the mother for contempt if she disobeyed its order. At first blush, it would appear that the two preceding paragraphs and cases cited therein would require a reversal of the trial judge’s order in the matter now before us, but there is another side to this coin, namely: Can the adult male be held in contempt for interfering with the trial court’s order directing the juvenile to have no contact with him? We answer in the affirmative. This may sound like a distinction without a difference, but under Section 39.13, Florida Statutes (1983), a court can exercise its contempt powers and punish any person interfering with the administration of, or violating any provision of, the juvenile justice act. Thus, the trial court apparently has the authority to hold the adult male in contempt for purposely interfering with the court’s valid order addressed to the juvenile. See Husky v. Safer, 419 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).
We have no doubt that the record supports that the adult male knowingly interfered with the order in this case and it would appear that if the third party has notice of, or knowledge of, the order yet disobeys it and acts in concert with, or aids and abets the juvenile, then he can be punished by contempt. See Annot., 7 A.L.R. 4th 893 (1981). See also Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Association, 443 U.S. 658, 99 S.Ct. 3055, 3078 n. 32, 61 L.Ed.2d 823 (1979).
AFFIRMED.
HERSEY and HURLEY, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (12 total)
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Fisher v. State, 840 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)…ed to obey a void order); Synchron, Inc. v. Kogan, 757 So. 2d 564 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000)(disobedience of a void order, judgment, or decree, or one issued by a court without jurisdiction of the subject-matter and parties, is not “contempt”); In re Elrod, 455 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)(a court does not have contempt powers to enforce violations of its orders if they are rendered without jurisdiction over the subject matter or the parties or transcend its power or authority). Fisher argues that the restitution…
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Johnson v. State, 584 So. 2d 95 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)…charged with contempt cannot defend by showing that the order was erroneous. Health [*98] Clubs, Inc. v. State ex rel. Eagan, 377 So. 2d 28 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979), appeal dismissed sub. nom. Cataldo v. Eagan, 383 So. 2d 1191 (Fla.1980); In re R. Elrod, 455 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). However, a party may defend a charge of contempt by claiming that the order, which he is charged with violating, has been rendered without jurisdiction over the subject matter or parties or that the subject order transcends the…
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Lindman v. Ellis, 658 So. 2d 632 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)…ted to her. A nonparty may not be held in indirect civil contempt. See Gayety Theatres, Inc. v. State, 359 So. 2d 915 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). However, under certain circumstances, a nonparty may be subject to indirect criminal contempt. See In re Elrod, 455 So. 2d 1325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984).…
Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Washington v. Wash. State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Ass'n, 443 U.S. 658 (U.S. 1979)
- State v. Petteway, 131 Fla. 516 (Fla. 1938)
- Health Clubs, Inc. v. The State of Fla. ex rel. Robert Eagan, 377 So. 2d 28 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979)
- State v. In the Interest of S. M. G., 313 So. 2d 761 (Fla. 1975)
- Husky v. Honorable Louis Safer, 419 So. 2d 1158 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)