Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska
Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska
Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska
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The failure of a trial court to rule on a motion for costs in its judgment leaves a<br />
portion of the judgment unresolved, and consequently, an order entering such<br />
judgment is not final for the purpose of appeal.<br />
*See also the Civil Procedure section of this outline<br />
Smeal Fire Apparatus Co. v. Kreikemeier (Smeal II), 279 Neb. 661, 782 N.W.2d<br />
848 (2010)<br />
Court might say that the fire truck has upset the apple cart. The Supreme<br />
Court uses this opinion to reverse course and overturn an entire series of<br />
earlier court opinions relating to civil contempt of court as well as the burden of<br />
proof needed to sustain a finding of civil contempt.<br />
Although there is no graceful way of retreating from this<br />
court’s previous rulings, some of our troubling contempt cases<br />
have created needless difficulties at both the trial and the appellate levels. An<br />
untangling of the snarls was long overdue. Our decision changes the legal<br />
landscape of our present contempt law. We overrule a long line of cases affecting a<br />
trial court’s jurisdiction, an appellate court’s jurisdiction, and the standard of proof in<br />
civil contempt cases.<br />
1. May a contemnor appeal a civil contempt order from a separate postjudgment<br />
proceeding? Yes.<br />
2. We hold that in a civil contempt proceeding, a district court has inherent power to<br />
order compensatory relief when a contemnor has violated its order or judgment. We<br />
further hold that whether a contempt sanction is civil or criminal is relevant only<br />
when a party appeals from an interlocutory order of contempt. An interlocutory<br />
contempt order is an order that a court issues during an ongoing proceeding before<br />
the final judgment in the main action.<br />
3. Finally, we conclude that for future cases, the standard of proof in civil contempt<br />
proceedings is clear and convincing evidence, unless the Legislature has mandated<br />
another standard.<br />
A jurisdictional issue that does not involve a factual dispute presents a question of<br />
law, which an appellate court independently decides.<br />
[B]oth an original marital dissolution pro eding and proceedings for modification of<br />
dissolution decrees are equitable in nature. Because of the court’s continuing equity<br />
jurisdiction over the decree, the power to provide equitable relief in a contempt<br />
proceeding is particularly appropriate. But there are limits to a court’s power to order<br />
equitable relief in a contempt proceeding. We have held that a court cannot modify<br />
a dissolution decree in a contempt proceeding absent an application for a<br />
modification and notice that a party seeks modification. … So, if a complainant<br />
seeks, or a court is considering, a modification of the underlying decree as an<br />
equitable sanction for contempt of the court’s decree, the alleged contemnor must<br />
first have notice that a modification and a finding of contempt will be at issue. But<br />
when the alleged contemnor has notice and an opportunity to be heard, a court can<br />
modify the underlying decree as a remedy for contempt if the violation cannot be<br />
adequately remedied otherwise.<br />
Civil contempt proceedings are remedial and coercive in their nature.<br />
[O]nly civil contempt orders issued before a final judgment in the main action are<br />
interlocutory (and unappealable).<br />
A court that has jurisdiction to issue an order also has the power to enforce it. A<br />
court can issue orders that are necessary to carry its judgment or decree into effect.<br />
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