Calif. Appeals Court Dings Judge Over Contempt Case
A California appeals court came down on a Superior Court judge in a strongly worded opinion, criticizing the way the trial court handled the contempt case of an elderly, cash-strapped attorney who failed to pay $10,000 in discovery sanctions and was ordered to serve five days in jail on three occasions. The appeals court wrote that judges need to know the due process rights associated with different types of contempt, and that the court's actions "did not measure up to that law, not by a long shot."
