Carr v. Edgar

• Decision Date: 26 September 2014
• Docket Number: No. 40883.,40883.
• Citation: 335 P.3d 578,157 Idaho 238
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court
• Parties: Brad C. CARR, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Crystal PRIDGEN nka Crystal Edgar, Defendant–Appellant.

157 Idaho 238

335 P.3d 578

Brad C. CARR, Plaintiff–Respondent,

v.Crystal PRIDGEN nka Crystal Edgar, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 40883.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Sept. 26, 2014.

Rainey Law Office, Boise, for appellant. Rebecca A. Rainey argued.

Bauer & French, Boise, for respondent. Charles Bauer argued.

HORTON, Justice.

This is an appeal from the district court sitting in its appellate capacity. The district court affirmed the magistrate court's judgment, which held that the appellant, Crystal Edgar, was guilty of two counts of indirect contempt. We reverse.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Edgar and Carr are the parents of D.C., a minor child born in 2003. Edgar and Carr were never married. Both Edgar and Carr have served in the Idaho National Guard since D.C.'s birth, resulting in custody disputes arising from the parties' deployments.

Edgar's contempt convictions arose from Carr's allegation that Edgar committed two separate violations of the parties' Parenting Plan, which was incorporated into the magistrate court's May 12, 2006, Order for Entry of Stipulation for Decree Regarding Paternity, Child Custody and Child Support (the May 12 Order). Carr's allegations related to two discrete disputes. The first related to the school D.C. would attend for the 2010 school year. In the summer of 2010, the parties could not agree on which school D.C. would attend. They mediated the issue, but were unable to reach a resolution. In August of 2010, Edgar unilaterally enrolled D.C. at Pepper Ridge Elementary School (Pepper Ridge) without receiving Carr's assent or seeking judicial resolution of the issue.

The second conflict dealt with Carr's request that D.C. visit him in Mississippi. Prior to being deployed to Iraq for one year, Carr was receiving pre-deployment training in Mississippi. Carr had a visitation window prior to deployment and asked Edgar if D.C. could make the trip to Mississippi. Edgar denied the request.

On August 4, 2011, Carr filed Plaintiff's Motion for Non–Summary Contempt Pursuant to I.R.C.P. 75(c). Carr's motion asked the magistrate court to hold Edgar in contempt for failure to obey the May 12 Order. Carr submitted an affidavit in support of his motion. Carr's affidavit alleged three counts of contempt; however, Count II was dismissed and is not relevant to this appeal. As to Count I, Carr's affidavit alleged: "In violation of Paragraph 9 ^{[1 ]} of Parenting Plan in May 12, 2006 Order: School started about three (3) weeks after I left Boise for pre-deployment training in Mississippi and at that time, [Edgar] enrolled [D.C.] in the school closest to her new home...." As to Count III, Carr's affidavit alleged: "In violation of Paragraph 15 ^{[2 ]} of Parenting Plan in May 12, 2006 Order: Once I had completed my pre-deployment training, I had an opportunity to visit with family before I was deployed to Iraq. I made arrangements for [D.C.] to travel with my wife to be with me, however, [Edgar] unreasonably denied permission for him to travel out of state to be with me before I was deployed to the war zone." Carr's affidavit also alleged that Edgar was served with a copy and had actual notice of the contents of the May 12 Order.

On November 3, 2011, the magistrate court heard Carr's contempt motion. At the conclusion of the hearing, the magistrate court found Edgar guilty of contempt as charged in Counts I and III. On Count I, the magistrate court sentenced Edgar to five days jail, suspended, a $5,000 fine, suspended, and placed her on two years unsupervised probation. On Count III, the magistrate court sentenced Edgar to three days in jail, to be served immediately.

More than a month later, and after Edgar had completed serving her jail time, the magistrate court entered its Judgment of Contempt and found that Edgar "willfully violated the court order that specifically provided that decisions concerning which school [D.C.] would attend be made jointly by the parties." The magistrate court also concluded that Edgar "blatantly breached her obligation of good faith and fair dealing when she summarily denied [Carr's] last chance to see his son before being sent to a war zone where many fathers have not returned."

On November 28, 2011, Edgar filed a notice of appeal from the magistrate court's judgment. On February 22, 2013, the district court issued its Memorandum Decision and affirmed the magistrate court's decision. On April 5, 2013, Edgar timely appealed from the district court's Memorandum Decision pursuant to I.A.R. 11(f).

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

When this Court reviews the decision of a district court sitting in its capacity as an appellate court, the standard of review is as follows:

The Supreme Court reviews the trial court (magistrate) record to determine whether there is substantial and competent evidence to support the magistrate's findings of fact and whether the magistrate's conclusions of law follow from those findings. If those findings are so supported and the conclusions follow therefrom and if the district court affirmed the magistrate's decision, we affirm the district court's decision as a matter of procedure.

Bailey v. Bailey, 153 Idaho 526, 529, 284 P.3d 970, 973 (2012) (quoting Losser v. Bradstreet, 145 Idaho 670, 672, 183 P.3d 758, 760 (2008) ). Thus, this Court does not review the decision of the magistrate court. Id. "Rather, we are ‘procedurally bound to affirm or reverse the decisions of the district court.’ " Id. (quoting State v. Korn, 148 Idaho 413, 415 n. 1, 224 P.3d 480, 482 n. 1 (2009) ).

Prior to Losser, when this Court reviewed a district court acting in its appellate capacity the standard of review was: "when reviewing a decision of the district court acting in its appellate capacity, this Court will review the record and the magistrate court's decision independently of, but with due regard for, the district court's decision." Losser, 145 Idaho at 672, 183 P.3d at 760. After Losser, this Court does not directly review a magistrate court's decision. Id. Rather, it is bound to affirm or reverse the district court's decision. See Bailey, 153 Idaho at 529, 284 P.3d at 973 ; Korn, 148 Idaho at 415 n. 1, 224 P.3d at 482 n. 1.

Pelayo v. Pelayo, 154 Idaho 855, 858–59, 303 P.3d 214, 217–18 (2013).

" Idaho Appellate Rule 11(a)(4) allows a direct appeal from an order of contempt. Thus, we review an appeal from an order of contempt the same as any other appeal." Matter of Williams, 120 Idaho 473, 476, 817 P.2d 139, 142 (1991). When reviewing a trial court's finding of contempt, we do not weigh the evidence, but rather review the trial court's findings to determine if they are supported by substantial and competent evidence. In re Weick, 142 Idaho 275, 278, 127 P.3d 178, 181 (2005) (citations omitted). We review the sanction imposed upon a finding of contempt for an abuse of discretion. Id.

III. ANALYSIS

In this appeal, we are considering criminal contempt, as the trial court suspended execution of its sentence as to Count I and ordered the sentence for Count III into immediate effect. "[A]n unconditional penalty is a criminal contempt sanction, and a conditional penalty is a civil contempt sanction." State Dep't of Health & Welfare v. Slane, 155 Idaho 274, 277, 311 P.3d 286, 289 (2013) (quoting Camp v. E. Fork Ditch Co., Ltd., 137 Idaho 850, 863, 55 P.3d 304, 317 (2002) ) (alteration in original). "A penalty is unconditional if the contemnor cannot avoid any sanction by complying with the court order violated. A penalty is also unconditional even if it is suspended and the contemnor is placed on probation." Id. "A court can impose a criminal contempt sanction in nonsummary contempt proceedings only if the contemnor has been afforded the federal constitutional rights applicable to criminal contempt proceedings." Id.

Nonsummary contempt proceedings may be initiated either by a written charge of contempt or by a motion and affidavit. I.R.C.P. 75(c)(1),(2). In the present case, contempt proceedings were initiated by the latter method. Thus, the affidavit was required to "allege the specific facts constituting the alleged contempt." I.R.C.P. 75(c)(3).

A. The district court erred in affirming the magistrate court's judgment as to Count I.

At some point in 2010, a dispute arose between the parties as to which school D.C. would attend. Carr wanted D.C. to attend Grace Jordan Elementary and Edgar wanted him to go to Pepper Ridge. The parties' attempt to mediate this conflict failed. Thus, Count I of Carr's affidavit alleged: "In violation of Paragraph 9 of Parenting Plan in May 12, 2006 Order: School started about three (3) weeks after I left Boise for pre-deployment training in Mississippi and at that time, [Edgar] enrolled [D.C.] in the school closest to her new home ... in disregard of and over the protests of both myself and my lawful attorney in fact, Shaun Carr." Based on paragraph nine of the Parenting Plan, specifically that "[m]ajor decisions about [D.C.'s] education (such as which school [he] will attend) will be made by Both Parents," the magistrate court concluded that Edgar willfully violated the court's order and therefore found Edgar guilty of contempt.

The simple act of enrolling D.C. into school could not be the basis for a finding of contempt. Given that Idaho law creates criminal penalties for parents who fail to enroll their children in school or make appropriate arrangements for private education, I.C. §§ 33–202 ; 33–207, the May 12 Order cannot reasonably be interpreted as prohibiting D.C. from attending school in the absence of parental agreement as to which school he would attend.

A person may be found guilty of a criminal contempt for a willful violation of a court order. State v. Rice, 145 Idaho 554, 556, 181 P.3d 480, 482 (2008) ; In re Weick, 142 Idaho at 279, 127 P.3d at 182 ; Camp, 137 Idaho at 862, 55 P.3d at 316. The old aphorism "it takes two to tango" applies here. One party does not have the power to create an agreement without the assent of the other party. As the dispute...