In re Chaumette

• Decision Date: 23 December 2014
• Docket Number: NO. 01–13–00957–CV,01–13–00957–CV
• Citation: 456 S.W.3d 299
• Parties: In re David A. Chaumette, Relator
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

456 S.W.3d 299

In re David A. Chaumette, Relator

NO. 01–13–00957–CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.

Opinion issued December 23, 2014

Rehearing Overruled March 3, 2015

Charles H. Peckham, Mary A. Martin, Peckham, PLLC, Houston, TX, for Relator.

Michael M. Phillips, Angleton, TX, for Real Party Interest.

Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Higley and Brown.

OPINION

Laura Carter Higley, Justice

Relator David A. Chaumette requests habeas corpus relief from the trial court's October 11, 2013 “Amended Order Holding Defendant David Chaumette in Contempt and for Commitment to County Jail”.¹ Because we conclude that Relator is entitled to habeas relief, we grant his petition for writ of habeas corpus and order him discharged from custody.

Background

The underlying suit involved the foreclosure of real property located in Brazoria County, Texas. In 2011, real party in interest, Black Sigma, LLC, sought a temporary injunction to prevent Michael Robinson, the third-party defendant in the underlying suit, from conducting a trustee's sale of the property.

On August 22, 2011, the trial court conducted a hearing on Black Sigma's request for a temporary injunction. At the hearing, Black Sigma presented the testimony of one of its managing members and proffered 17 exhibits into evidence in support of its request for injunctive relief. When Black Sigma had finished offering its evidence, the trial court stated that it had to cut the hearing short without hearing Robinson's evidence because it needed “to get back to [its] criminal docket.” The court stated that Black Sigma had presented sufficient evidence and granted Black Sigma's request for the temporary injunction against Robinson. Robinson's attorney, Michael Bannwart, protested, indicating that he wanted to offer evidence on Robinson's behalf in defense of the temporary-injunction request; however, the trial refused to allow Bannwart to offer any evidence at the hearing.

On September 1, 2011, the trial court signed an order granting the temporary injunction. The order provided, in part, as follows:

The Court, having held a hearing and received evidence from Plaintiff requesting injunctive relief and argument of counsel, if any, is of the opinion that Plaintiff's application has merit and an injunction should be and is hereby GRANTED.

The Court finds:

1. Plaintiff has a probable right on final trial to the relief that it seeks;

2. Plaintiff will suffer irreparable injury for which he has no legal remedy if this injunction is not granted.

IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that Michael P. Robinson, Defendant in this cause and any alternate trustee appointed by him, Robinson's agents, servants, employees, and attorneys and all persons in active concert or participation with him be temporarily and/or permanently enjoined from conducting a foreclosure sale as substitute trustees on September 6, 2011 or anytime during the pendency of this case or until further order of the Court[.]

At the bottom of the order, the trial court made a hand-written notation, indicating that it would conduct a hearing on September 19, 2011, at which Robinson could present evidence “to persuade the Court to dissolve this injunction.”

On September 19 and 22, 2011, the trial court conducted two more hearings at which Robinson was permitted to offer evidence regarding Black Sigma's request for temporary injunction. On October 7, 2011, the trial court signed an amended temporary-injunction order, which “relate[d] back to, the Order granting temporary injunction of September 1, 2011.”

Robinson filed an interlocutory appeal from the amended temporary injunction order, bearing appellate cause number 01–11–00917–CV. In that appeal, Black Sigma filed a “Motion for Contempt and for Referral to the Trial Court to Enforce Temporary Injunction.” Black Sigma claimed that Relator, among others, should be held in contempt for violating the trial court's temporary injunction orders. In its motion, Black Sigma asserted that Relator, on September 6, 2011, while acting as substitute trustee, took bids as part of a substitute trustee's sale on the Brazoria County property and transferred the property by substitute trustee's deed in violation of the trial court's temporary-injunction orders. With respect to that motion, this Court issued an “Order of Abatement and Referral of Enforcement Proceeding to the Trial Court,” which referred the enforcement proceeding of the temporary injunction orders to the trial court for that court to hear evidence and grant appropriate relief. The order also abated the interlocutory appeal.

The trial court commenced civil and criminal contempt proceedings regarding whether Relator's conduct relating to the sale of the Brazoria County property violated the injunctive orders. On November 19, 2012, the trial court found Relator guilty of civil contempt for violating trial court's orders in the following manner:

1. By conducting a substitute trustee's sale on September 6, 2011 as described in the substitute trustee's deed entered into evidence, in violation of this Court's Order Granting Temporary Injunction of September 1, 2011; and

2. By executing and recording said substitute trustee's deed in violation of this Court's Order Granting Temporary Injunction of September 1, 2011, and Amended Order Granting Temporary Injunction of October 7, 2011.

The contempt order further provided that Relator “shall be confined in the Brazoria County Jail until he purges himself of contempt by executing and recording a document in form acceptable to the Court, vacating the said substitute trustee's deed, effective September 6, 2011.”

On October 3, 2013, Relator attempted to purge himself of contempt by filing a “Rescission of Foreclosure Sale” in the real property records and notifying the trial court that he had done so. The trial court, however, found Relator's “Rescission of Foreclosure Sale” to be unacceptable.

On October 7, 2013, the trial court presented Relator with an “Order and Declaratory Judgment on Amended Motion to Vacate Substitute Trustee's Deed,” as a means of reversing the September 6, 2011 substitute trustee's sale. The order required Relator to acknowledge, by signature, approval of both the substance and form of the proposed order. The trial court also presented Relator with a document entitled “Rescission of Deed,” which the trial court ordered relator to execute. The signed order, along with the “Rescission of Deed,” and other documents, were to be returned to the trial court by November 4, 2013.

Relator asserted that he could not sign the trial court's proposed order or the Rescission of Deed because they contained inaccuracies. Relator attempted to execute such documents, in a form with which Relator was comfortable; however, the trial court did not find Relator's attempt to be sufficient.

On November 8, 2013, the trial court issued a capias for Relator's arrest based on the trial court's November 19, 2012 civil contempt order. Relator filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus with this Court, bearing appellate cause number 01–13–00964–CV.² We granted Relator's petition for writ of habeas corpus, holding that the civil contempt order was void because “[the] purging condition [did] not clearly or specifically notify relator of the action he needs to take to purge himself of contempt.”³ In re Chaumette, 439 S.W.3d 412, 416 (Tex.App.–Houston [1st Dist.] 2014, orig. proceeding).

The criminal contempt proceedings against Relator were conducted separately from the civil contempt proceedings in October 2013. At the end of a two-day hearing, the trial court found Relator in criminal contempt of the September 1, 2011 temporary-injunction order. The trial court signed its “Amended Order Holding Defendant David Chaumette in Contempt and for Commitment to County Jail” on October 11, 2013. The order provided,

After considering the record and hearing the evidence and arguments of counsel, the Court finds that this Court has jurisdiction to issue this Order; that David A. Chaumette was afforded proper notice of this hearing; that David A. Chaumette had notice of this Court's Order Granting Temporary Injunction of September 1, 2011. The Court further finds that David A. Chaumette has violated this Court's Orders as follows:

1. By conducting a substitute trustee's sale on September 6, 2011 ... in violation of this Court's Order Granting Temporary injunction of September 1, 2011. On Count One the Court sentences Contemner to 45 days in the Brazoria County Jail and fines Contemner the sum of $500.00; and

2. By executing and recording said substitute trustee's deed, dated February 14, 2012 ... in violation of this Court's Order Granting Temporary Injunction of September 1, 2011. On Count Two the Court sentences Contemner to 45 days in the Brazoria County Jail.

IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that David A. Chaumette is in contempt of this Court for the above described violations of this Court's Orders.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that David A. Chaumette shall be confined in the Brazoria County Jail for a total of 45 days, for each violation, to be served concurrently, and pay a total of $500.00 in fines. A personal recognizance bond in the amount of $1,000.00 is hereby set. If David A. Chaumette has not filed a writ by October 25, 2013 at 12:00 noon, the bond is revoked and David A. Chaumette is to report to the Brazoria County Jail.

Relator filed this application for writ of habeas corpus, challenging the trial court's October 11, 2013 order of criminal contempt. Among his arguments, Relator asserts that the contempt order is void because the underlying September 1, 2011 temporary injunction is void based on its noncompliance with the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.⁴

Scope and Standard of Review

The Supreme Court of Texas has broadly defined contempt as “ ‘disobedience to or disrespect of a court by acting in opposition to its authority’ ” and observed that contempt is “ ‘a broad and...