Uncharitable

An attorney who failed to appear for a court proceeding was properly held in contempt but the option to pay $100 to charity was improperly ordered, according to a decision issued last year by the Virgin Islands Supreme Court.

We conclude that the Superior Court intended to hold Meade in civil, rather than criminal, contempt. As noted earlier, one of the key differences between civil and criminal contempt is the minimum intent required to sustain each sanction: while an individual may only be held in criminal contempt if the non-compliance is willful, a court may hold someone in civil contempt as a sanction for negligent conduct…

Because the Superior Court did not intend to punish Meade, but rather sought to compensate itself for the costs associated with the January 28, 2015 status conference, it held him in civil contempt rather than criminal contempt. Since the evidence is sufficient to sustain its civil contempt sanction, we affirm the portion of the Superior Court’s March 25, 2015 order that held him in contempt. However, we vacate the portion of the order that authorized Meade to pay the $100 fine to a charity in lieu of the Superior Court, since paying the fine to a charitable organization that was not a party to the case or otherwise harmed by Meade’s failure to appear would cause the sanction to lose its compensatory purpose. On remand, the Superior Court shall modify its sanction to specify that the fine is only payable to the Clerk of the Superior Court.

(Mike Frisch)