Ex parte Ramzy, B--498

• Citation: 424 S.W.2d 220
• Decision Date: 31 January 1968
• Docket Number: No. B--498,B--498
• Parties: Ex parte Carl O. RAMZY, Jr., Relator.
• Court: Supreme Court of Texas

Page 220

424 S.W.2d 220

Ex parte Carl O. RAMZY, Jr., Relator.

No. B--498.

Supreme Court, of Texas.

Jan. 31, 1968.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 28, 1968.

Philip S. Kouri and Jimmy Casteldine, Wichita Falls, for relator.

Spence, Martin & Richie, Howard Martin, Wichita Falls, for respondent.

SMITH, Justice.

In this original habeas corpus proceeding presented to this Court on October 9, 1967, the Relator, Dr. Carl O. Ramzy, Jr., seeks to be discharged from an order of the District Court of Jack County, Texas, committing him to jail for contempt. The facts were developed at two different hearings before different trial judges. The reasons for holding two hearings will be discussed later in this opinion.

On April 2, 1966, Rhoda Chambless Remzy presented to the District Judge of the 43rd Judicial District of Texas, a petition for divorce wherein her husband, the Relator, was named as defendant. The petition not only alleged a cause of action for divorce, but sought to restrain the Relator from disposing of certain personal property owned by the community. The divorce action is still pending.

The court granted a temporary restraining order decreeing that 'the defendant be and he is hereby enjoined and restrained, without bond, from selling, disposing of or secreting any of the community property of Plaintiff and Defendant, or placing the said property or any portion thereof beyond the Plaintiff's reach, including all real and personal property.' The court further ordered that the Defendant-Relator appear 'in the District Court room, Courthouse, Jacksboro, Jack County, Texas, on the 7 day of April, A.D. 1966, at 2 o'clock p.m. to show cause, if any he has, why the Temporary Restraining Order herein prescribed should not be extended into a Temporary Injunction * * *.'

On April 7, 1966, the court, after a hearing, granted a temporary injunction enjoining both the plaintiff and defendant from 'selling, disposing of or secreting any of the property of plaintiff and defendant.' Each party was ordered to return into court a verified complete inventory of all property and assets in his or her possession. The court's order granting the temporary injunction directed 'the defendant not to dispose or remove any of the funds on deposit with or in safety deposit boxes in the Jacksboro National Bank, * * *, save and except that the defendant has a clinic account and personal checking account with the Jacksboro National Bank, Jacksboro, Texas, and in connection with such checking accounts the court further directs that the defendant shall in 10 days file an inventory of all of the assets which he has in his possession, a copy of which shall be delivered to the plaintiff's attorney herein, and upon the final trial of this cause all of the income and disbursements made from such accounts shall be audited, etc.'

Thereafter, the plaintiff, on the 5th day of September, 1967, executed a 'contempt affidavit' charging that the Defendant-Relator had violated the injunction by disposing of a coin collection described therein. The affidavit alleged that the coins were in the exclusive possession of the defendant and such coins were listed in the inventory filed by the defendant in accordance with the court's order.

The affidavit alleged and the defendant admitted at the contempt hearing on September 25, 1967, that the coin collection was no longer in Relator's possession. At this hearing, the attorneys for the plaintiff and defendant were both present and participated in the examination of the witnesses. It was specifically charged in the 'contempt affidavit' that on 'August 3rd 1966, while said temporary injunction was in full force and effect, defendant sold a portion of said coin collection to a man by the name of Gean Cashdan for the sum of $2500.00.'

'That on or about September 29th, 1966, the defendant sold a portion of said coin collection to a man by the name of M. A. Withers for the sum of $1508.60, while said temporary injunction was in full force and effect.'

'That on some date subsequent to April 7, 1966, and while said temporary injunction was in full force and effect, the defendant disposed of all of the gold coins in said valuable collection. That the defendant claims and represents to the plaintiff, and even to defendant's own attorney in this cause, that he disposed of all of said coins by giving them to his children by one of his prior marriages.'

On September 25, 1967, the court entered its judgment holding the Relator in contempt. The court found that,

'* * * the defendant has turned over to his children by a former marriage a portion of said coin collection consisting of United States gold coins. The Court finds that by the admissions of the defendant in this contempt proceeding said defendant at this time does not have in his possession any of said community coin collection which has any value whatsoever.'

Based upon the findings so made, the court ordered and decreed:

'(T)hat the defendant, Carl O. Ramzy, Jr., be, and he is hereby, held guilty of contempt of this Court for his willful and intentional violation and disobedience of the order and temporary injunction of this Court issued and made in this cause on April 7th, 1966, and said defendant's punishment is hereby fixed at confinement in the County Jail of Jack County, Texas, for a period of seventy-two (72) hours, same being three full days and a fine of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars, together with all costs of this contempt proceeding incurred.

'It is further ordered and decreed by the Court that when the said defendant, Carl O. Ramzy, Jr., shall have served said 72 hours in the County Jail of Jack County, Texas, and shall have paid said $100.00 fine (or satisfied said fine by confinement in the Jack County Jail at the rate of $5.00 per day), and shall have paid the costs of this contempt proceeding, as punishment for his contempt of this Court, the said Carl O. Ramzy, Jr., shall continue to be confined in the County Jail of Jack County, Texas, until he shall have purged himself of all contempt of this Court by delivering to the possession of the District Clerk of Jack County, Texas, for safekeeping pending final trial of this suit for divorce, all portions of the coin collection delivered by defendant to Gean Cashdan, all portions of said coin collection delivered by the defendant to M. A. Withers, all portions of said coin collection delivered by the defendant to the Jacksboro National Bank of Jacksboro, Texas, and all portions of said coin collection delivered by the defendant to defendant's children by a former marriage, and all portions of said coin collection remaining in the defendant's possession or under defendant's control, whether of value or not, and wheresoever located.

'When the defendant, Carl O. Ramzy, Jr., shall have served said 72 hours in the Jack County Jail and shall have satisfied said $100.00 fine and all costs of this contempt proceeding, and shall have purged himself of contempt of this Court in the manner provided in the preceding paragraph of this judgment, said defendant shall be released from further confinement in the County Jail of Jack County, Texas.'

Thereafter, on the 9th day of October, 1967, Relator presented his petition for writ of habeas corpus to this Court. The petition was denied. On the 10th day of October, 1967, Relator filed an original petition for writ of habeas corpus in the 43rd Judicial District Court of Texas at Jacksboro, Texas. In the petition it was alleged that the Relator was unlawfully restrained of his liberty by the Sheriff of Jack County, and notice was served upon the Sheriff, Hubert Jackson. Thereafter, on the same date the petition was filed, a hearing was held before the Honorable Arthur Tipps, a District Judge who was regularly appointed to preside. The court heard evidence and a statement of facts, approved by Judge Tipps, was filed in this Court on October 11, 1967.

On October 12, 1967, the Relator filed in this Court a motion for rehearing of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. This motion was granted on October 12, 1967, and the cause was set for submission on November 15, 1967. The Relator was admitted to bail pending final disposition of the cause in this Court. We believe it is proper under all of the circumstances for this Court to consider the testimony introduced at this latter hearing as well as that given at the hearing on September 25, 1967, as being properly before us. The Relator testified at both hearings. Cashdan and Withers, the parties heretofore mentioned, testified only at the last hearing.

Mrs. Ramzy has filed a brief in this Court in which she asserts that there has been a denial of 'due process' in that the hearing on October 10, 1967, was held without notice to her or her counsel, and that the failure to give to her notice of the hearing deprived her of the right to offer evidence and the right to cross-examine the witnesses. We overrule this contention. A procedure by habeas corpus to be relieved of imprisonment for contempt can in no legal sense be regarded as a suit or controversy between private parties. In such a proceeding the petition for a writ of habeas corpus is for the relief of the Prisoner and the Prisoner only. It is inquire why the liberty of the citizen is restrained. We hold that the authority to grant the writ is conferred upon the Court or the judge, and that a proceeding by habeas corpus is a matter for the investigation of the judge. The writ of habeas corpus is designed for the purpose of giving a speedy remedy to one who is unlawfully detained. The very nature of a procedure by writ of habeas corpus dictates that it would be inconsistent to recognize on the one hand that the purpose of the writ is to obtain a speedy adjudication of a person's right to be free from illegal restraint, and on the other hand to compel the person to await service of notice of the proceedings upon some private party before the judge can proceed with the...