The Montana Supreme Court denied review of a contempt finding for the attorney’s failure to appear at a termination of parental rights hearing.

There was also substantial evidence to support the District Court’s order of contempt. The District Court’s Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order Holding Attorney Roberta Cross Guns in Contempt of Court, entered April 17, 2017, is comprehensive, thorough, and represents considerable deliberation by the District Court. Cross Guns’ failure to appear and her disruption to the orderly process of the court constituted a disobedience of a lawful order of the court. Cross Guns waited until the day before the hearing to file a motion for continuance of a hearing that had been scheduled for five weeks. Dependency and neglect proceedings have priority regarding scheduling and the underlying matter had been pending for nearly two years. The court observed that this was not the first occasion that Cross Guns had disrupted court process by failing to abide by a lawful order of the court. Most importantly, however, a district court must be able to hold accountable those persons who, pursuant to a lawful court order, are responsible for being present and are necessary for the court to discharge its responsibility of conducting court business. We conclude there was substantial evidence to support the District Court’s order of contempt pursuant to § 3-1-511, MCA, and that the court did not exceed its jurisdiction by sanctioning Cross Guns for her contemptuous conduct.

(Mike Frisch)