Contempt of court / disobeying a court order

[Jackass]

Hi,

I'm just wondering, is it possible to get a criminal record from disobeying a court order, and if so, what is the punishment for it?

And is this considered a criminal record the same as robbing a bank etc. (i.e. imposes travel restrictions to U.S. etc.)

Can one be issued in non-attendance of a person?

For example, if a finance company was trying to track down somebody and they were unable to ever contact them, and they brought legal proceedings, and at no point could they confirm that the defendant ever became aware of court summons or legal proceedings, could the court still order the repayment of the cash and / or impose a criminal conviction against the person?

Just curious about how the courts and law works in this area...

I would have presumed that in order for the court to be able to do / impose anything, a confirmed summons must have been issued, correct?

And what constitutes a confirmed summons? Put in the hand of the person?

drunkmonkey

Just on experience here, if there was a judgement made in your absence (i.e you never knew about it) you would be allowed ask for a set-aside, this would basically allow for the case be heard again with you present. Going on your example the outcome would probably be the same unless some new information came to light.

coylemj

Being sued for a debt doesn't give you a criminal conviction, neither does failing to turn up in court for a civil case. If you don't turn up in a civil case it just makes it easier for the other side to get a judgement in their favour, essentially because everything they put forward will be accepted as probably true in the absence of a rebuttal or contrary evidence from you.

If you were ordered by the court to do something and you failed to do it, you could be locked up for contempt of court but I don't think the Gardai record this as a criminal conviction.

s2c

Criminal Contempt is punishable at the discretion of the Court - it has no statutory limitations - per se.

[Jackass]

If it's in the case of non-repayment of finance, can the court impose a criminal conviction / can a criminal record occur from non-payment of debt that ends up in court?

coylemj

s2c wrote: »

Criminal Contempt is punishable at the discretion of the Court - it has no statutory limitations - per se.

So what? Can you clarify what you mean in the context of the OP's question, he wants to know if he can end up with a criminal record as a result of being pursued through the courts for a debt.

s2c

Contempt of Court will result in a conviction.

Where a person is found in contempt, the only penalties are fines or imprisonment, both of which generate warrants. The offence is stated in the body of the warrant. It is necessary for the Court officers to record the conviction in order to generate the warrant - therefore the offender has a conviction recorded.

coylemj

s2c wrote: »

Contempt of Court will result in a conviction.

Where a person is found in contempt, the only penalties are fines or imprisonment, both of which generate warrants. The offence is stated in the body of the warrant. It is necessary for the Court officers to record the conviction in order to generate the warrant - therefore the offender has a conviction recorded.

I am assuming that the OP is referring to the Garda criminal records which includes convictions since he refers to possible consequences such as restrictions on travel to the US etc.

Of course the court staff have to record the conviction since the individual who gets jail for contempt has to be sent to prison with a committal warrant signed by the judge but I don't believe the Gardai record this as a conviction since it does not follow from a process which starts with a charge sheet or summons.

s2c

To the best of my knowledge the Courts recording system and the Garda recording system are linked - i.e. the convictions recorded by Court staff are the ones now relied on by the guards.

coylemj

s2c wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge the Courts recording system and the Garda recording system are linked - i.e. the convictions recorded by Court staff are the ones now relied on by the guards.

Ok, I'll accept that but I'd still say that in all fairness I doubt if the Gardai regard that (contempt of court) as a real 'conviction'.

Now I know in law it is a conviction, but given that there is no process of appeal short of seeking a writ of habeus corpus, I think it would be grossly unfair that someone should be excluded from visiting the US or emigrating to Oz for life just because they caught a judge on a bad day.

Hence I'd suggest that the Gardai do not record it or if they do, they would somehow chose to ignore it when giving someone a character reference, assuming their record was otherwise clean.

dermot_sheehan

I think a distinction needs to be drawn between civil and criminal contempt.

Civil contempt is failing to obey a court order and is for an unlimited period until the contempt is purged and is not a criminal conviciton.

Criminal contempt is interfering with the operation of the court or administration of justice such as may disrupting court proceedings or intimidating witnesses. It is an offence at common law (and for the District Court under the Petty Sessions Act).

A prosecution can be brought by the DPP or as an exception to the general rule that prosecutions are brought by an independent person of the judge, the judge himself can summarily charge and convict a person who commits a criminal contempt in the face of the court.

This would be a criminal conviction, whether the guards enter the details into PULSE is another question. Where the United States regard this as a crime of moral turpitude I'm uncertain of.