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Ex Parte Delcourt

Supreme Court of Texas
Jun 22, 1994
888 S.W.2d 811 (Tex. 1994)

Summary

holding that second commitment order issued more than two weeks after contempt hearing was void because it was not signed sufficiently close in time to trial court's pronouncement of contempt to satisfy due process requirements

Summary of this case from In re Depeau

Opinion

No. D-4560.

June 22, 1994.

Shawn Casey, Houston, for petitioner.

Roland Kemp, Houston, for respondent.


OPINION


We withdraw our prior opinion and substitute the following.

This petition for writ of habeas corpus arises from the enforcement of a temporary order in a divorce proceeding. The order provided, in part, that Paul Delcourt would make certain monthly payments for his wife. When Delcourt quit making payments because the underlying debt had been extinguished, his wife filed a contempt motion, asserting some forty-four different counts. The trial court found Delcourt in contempt for some of the counts and issued its first contempt judgment and commitment order. Approximately two weeks later, while Delcourt had the first order under consideration by a court of appeals on petition for writ of habeas corpus, the trial judge signed a second contempt judgment and commitment order, purporting to find additional violations for which he held Delcourt in contempt. This second commitment order issued without any additional hearing or notice.

The court of appeals discharged relator from all incarceration under the first commitment order. Delcourt filed petition for writ of habeas corpus in this court for his confinement under the second order. The real party in interest, though duly requested to respond, filed no reply before motion for rehearing. We consider here only the second commitment order. If that order be considered a new commitment, not issued under the first hearing, then it issued without notice and hearing and is void for denying Delcourt due process. Ex parte Barnett, 600 S.W.2d 252, 256 (Tex. 1980). Conversely, if the second commitment order issued as a result of the first contempt hearing, then no written commitment was signed sufficiently close to the time the judge pronounced the contempt to satisfy due process requirements, and Delcourt's commitment is again void for lack of due process. Ex parte Calvillo Amaya, 748 S.W.2d 224, 224-25 (Tex. 1988). Under either possibility relator's due process rights have been violated, and the trial court's actions conflict with the opinions of this court. We reject the argument on motion for rehearing, that Amaya applies only to the first commitment order signed after a hearing, and that subsequent additional contempt judgments and commitments may be freely signed weeks later. We overrule the motion for rehearing. Without hearing argument, a majority of the court grants Paul Delcourt's petition for writ of habeas corpus and orders him discharged. TEX.R.APP.P. 122.


Summaries of

Ex Parte Delcourt

Supreme Court of Texas
Jun 22, 1994
888 S.W.2d 811 (Tex. 1994)

holding that second commitment order issued more than two weeks after contempt hearing was void because it was not signed sufficiently close in time to trial court's pronouncement of contempt to satisfy due process requirements

Summary of this case from In re Depeau

holding that second commitment order issued more than two weeks after contempt hearing was void because not signed sufficiently close in time to trial court's pronouncement of contempt to satisfy due process requirements

Summary of this case from In re Edwards

holding that a trial court could not enter a new contempt judgment that included additional violations while a habeas proceeding was pending in the appellate court because the new judgment was not signed close enough in time to the original pronouncement of contempt

Summary of this case from In re Hammond

rejecting argument that subsequent additional contempt judgments and commitments may be freely signed weeks later

Summary of this case from In re Brownhill

rejecting trial court's subsequent additional contempt judgments and commitments signed weeks later

Summary of this case from In re Houston

In Delcourt, after a hearing, the trial court found Delcourt in contempt and issued a contempt judgment and commitment order.

Summary of this case from Ex Parte Anderson

In Delcourt, the trial court had found relator in contempt for certain violations, the relator sought habeas relief, and while the first order was under review by the court of appeals, the trial court issued—without notice or a further hearing—a second order finding relator in contempt for additional violations.

Summary of this case from In re Spates
Case details for

Ex Parte Delcourt

Case Details

Full title:Ex parte Paul E. DELCOURT

Court:Supreme Court of Texas

Date published: Jun 22, 1994

Citations

888 S.W.2d 811 (Tex. 1994)

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In re Spates

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In re Edwards

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