Contempt of the Court and Trust Litigation

Have you found yourself stuck in a crazy probate battle filled with emotion and lies? Is the other side bringing up false claims or lying under oath? Could they be found in contempt of the court? What can you do to stop them? If someone lies under oath or fails to follow a court order, they could be found in contempt of the court. In addition, their entire claim could be at risk for getting dismissed!

Probate litigation lawyers know that people do frequently lie in court. Perjury is serious. It tends to unnecessarily lengthen cases and cost both sides money, all while insulting the court. Do you have evidence that can prove the other side is lying to the probate?  Just like perjury, there can be consequences for failing to comply with court orders. Is the other side ignoring court orders? What remedies do Florida courts have in place to sanction this type of behavior?

A May 21, 2017 Fourth DCA opinion, Rosenwater v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, discusses what can happen if you choose to ignore a court order in Florida. Here, a trial judge issued an order scheduling a case management conference. The order stated: SHOULD YOU FAIL TO PERSONALLY ATTEND THE CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, YOUR FAILURE TO ATTEND COULD RESULT IN A DISMISSAL, DEFAULT, STRIKING THE ABSENT PARTIES’ PLEADINGS AND/OR OTHER APPROPRIATE SANCTIONS. Despite the order, the defense counsel decided not to appear at this conference. During the conference, the trial judge called defense counsel on speaker phone. The defense counsel’s staff was not very accommodating to the judge. At first, the judge wasn’t even able to speak with defense counsel himself. The office stated that he was on the phone. Then, they had an associate attorney come on the line. The associate stated that “his office did not feel the need to attend the CMC because Defendant and the bank’s counsel had worked out an agreed order on the pending Motion to Dismiss.” Does this make it OK for a Florida lawyer to ignore a court order? Is it EVER OK to ignore a court order? Eventually, defense counsel did come on the line. Instead of apologizing to the judge for ignoring the court order, or asking to attend the conference via telephone, defense counsel gave reasons why he felt the CMC was not worthy of even having coverage counsel attend. This all ended up resulting in the trial judge finding defense counsel guilty of criminal contempt. The trial judged fined him $500. In addition, defense counsel was committed to St. Lucie County jail for “10 days, suspended, pending compliance with all of the terms of the order.” Defense counsel appealed. What did the Florida appellate court say? To read the entire case, click here.