510 Precedential Processed

Moity v. Mahfouz

Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit · Filed November 21, 1961 · 137 So. 2d 513

Also decided on this docket: La. Ct. App. 1st Cir., May 7, 1962 141 So. 2d 498; La. Ct. App. 1st Cir., December 3, 1929 124 So. 775

Cited by

Brown v. Brown 745 So. 2d 37 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1999
Slaughter v. Slaughter 499 So. 2d 1123 La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 1986
Goins v. Goins 437 So. 2d 947 La. Ct. App. 2d Cir. 1983
Le Blanc v. Le Blanc 404 So. 2d 530 La. Ct. App. 4th Cir. 1981
Pasternack v. Lubritz 280 So. 2d 352 La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 1973
Joint Legislative Committee of the Legislature v. Strain 248 So. 2d 105 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1971
Wall v. Wall 230 So. 2d 420 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1969
Duhon v. Duhon 226 So. 2d 546 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1969
Gallagher v. Gallagher 212 So. 2d 281 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1968
Advertiser, Division of the Independent, Inc. v. Tubbs 199 So. 2d 426 La. Ct. App. 3d Cir. 1967
Pearce v. Dozier 181 So. 2d 432 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 1965
Moity v. Mahfouz 137 So. 2d 514 La. 1961

Authorities cited

Identified automatically; this list may not be exhaustive.

Hattier v. Martinez 197 La. 121
150 La. 1030 not in our corpus
State ex rel. Dowling v. Ray 91 So. 443
White v. Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Company 94 So. 2d 95

Opinion text

137 So.2d 513 (1961) Warren J. MOITY, Plaintiff-Relator, v. Alex MAHFOUZ, Defendant-Respondent. No. 510. Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit. November 21, 1961. Certiorari Denied November 29, 1961. *514 Warren J. Moity, New Iberia, plaintiff-relator, in pro. per. Simon & Trice, By: J. Minos Simon, Lafayette, for defendant-respondent. Before TATE, FRUGE, SAVOY and HOOD, JJ. PER CURIAM. The relator was convicted of contempt for making immaterial and scandalous allegations in pleadings filed in connection with a civil suit for judgment upon a note for $308. He was sentenced to serve ten days in the parish jail under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 13:4611. He has applied to this court's supervisory jurisdiction for relief. The general rule is that a conviction for contempt is not appealable in the absence of a constitutional or statutory provision for review, the court of record being the exclusive judge of a contempt committed against its authority and dignity. In Louisiana, there being no such general legislative provision, an appeal does not ordinarily lie from a judgment of contempt, the appropriate remedy to review the validity of the contempt proceedings being to apply to the general supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. See: Hattier v. Martinez, 197 La. 121 , 1 So.2d 51 ; State ex rel. Dowling v. Ray, 150 La. 1030 , 91 So. 443 ; White v. Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. Co., La.App. 1 Cir., 94 So.2d 95 . See also: Note, "ContemptRemedy of RespondentSupervisory Power of the Supreme Court", 17 Tul.L.Rev. 655 (1943). Further, even though the case within which the contempt is committed is appealable, the appellate court with jurisdiction of the appeal on the merits does not have appellate jurisdiction of the contempt proceeding, the latter being regarded as an independent proceeding. State ex rel. DeBuys v. Civil Sheriff of Parish of New Orleans, 32 La.Ann. 1225 ; In re Lindner, 5 Orl.App. 121; cf., White v. Louisiana & Arkansas Ry. Co., above cited. Since no appeal lies to this court from the conviction for contempt, we do not have supervisory jurisdiction to review its validity, for the 1958 amendment conferring supervisory jurisdiction upon the courts of appeal specifically limited such jurisdiction to "cases in which an appeal would lie to the court of appeal" in question. La. Constitution, Art. VII, Section 29, as amended by Act 561 of 1958, LSA. The application for supervisory writs is therefore denied. Writs denied.