Jarrell v. Petoseed Co., Inc., No. 2836.

• Court: Court of Appeals of South Carolina
• Writing for the Court: HEARN.
• Citation: 331 S.C. 207,500 S.E.2d 793
• Parties: Danny JARRELL and Jimmy Wooten, Respondents, v. PETOSEED COMPANY, INC., Appellant.
• Decision Date: 27 April 1998
• Docket Number: No. 2836.

331 S.C. 207
500 S.E.2d 793

Danny JARRELL and Jimmy Wooten, Respondents,
v.
PETOSEED COMPANY, INC., Appellant

No. 2836.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Heard February 3, 1998.

Decided April 27, 1998.

331 S.C. 208

Keating L. Simons, III, and Derek F. Dean, both of the Law Office of Keating L. Simons, III, Charleston, for appellant

J. Paul Detrick, of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, Hampton, for respondents.

HEARN, Judge:

Petoseed Company, Inc., appeals the trial judge's ruling finding it liable for civil compensatory contempt. Petoseed argues the trial judge should have dismissed Danny Jarrell and Jimmy Wooten's complaint pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), SCRCP.¹ We agree and reverse.

331 S.C. 209

FACTS

Jarrell and Wooten, Respondents, initiated this lawsuit in 1994 against Petoseed for fraud and civil compensatory contempt. They allege they have suffered no less than $50,000 in damages based on Petoseed's failure to produce a set of test results requested in a prior action. They learned about the results after Petoseed disclosed them to another litigant in a similar Florida lawsuit. In their prior action, Jarrell and Wooten sought damages for a failed watermelon crop. They allege Petoseed sold them watermelon seeds contaminated with Watermelon Fruit Blotch Disease, making their crop unmarketable. Had they known about the test results, Respondents assert, they would not have settled their case for $70,000. Based on Respondents' testimony, actual damages ranged from approximately $40,000 to $100,000.

Petoseed moved to dismiss Respondents' present lawsuit for failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The trial judge denied this motion. Following a bench trial, the trial judge found Petoseed liable for civil compensatory contempt. The trial judge did not issue a ruling on Respondents' cause of action for fraud, which is still pending.

DISCUSSION

A Rule 12(b)(6), SCRCP, motion must be based solely upon the allegations set forth on the face of the complaint. Brown v. Leverette, 291 S.C. 364, 366, 353 S.E.2d 697, 698 (1987). Viewing the evidence in favor of the plaintiff, the motion must be granted if facts alleged in the complaint and inferences reasonably deducible therefrom do not entitle the plaintiff to relief on any theory of the case. Id. Petoseed argues the trial judge erred in refusing to dismiss Respondents' complaint because the damages they allege are not cognizable in an action for civil compensatory contempt. We agree.

Civil contempt sanctions serve two functions: to coerce future compliance and to remedy past noncompliance. United States v. United Mine Workers of Amer., 330 U.S. 258, 302-04, 67 S.Ct. 677, 700-702, 91 L.Ed. 884 (1947). Civil

331 S.C. 210

contempt proceedings designed to coerce compliance generally terminate along with the termination of the main action. Checker Yellow Cab Co., Inc. v. Checker Cab & Parcel Serv., Inc., 287 S.C. 608, 611, 340 S.E.2d 549, 551 (Ct.App.1986). Civil compensatory contempt's purpose, however, is not coercive, but rather is designed to remedy past noncompliance. Termination of the prior action between the parties, therefore, does not render this appeal moot. Shillitani v. United States, 384 U.S. 364, 370-71, 86 S.Ct. 1531, 1535-36, 16 L.Ed.2d 622 (1966); McComb v. Jacksonville Paper, Co., 336 U.S. 187, 191, 69 S.Ct. 497, 499-500, 93 L.Ed. 599 (1949). A civil compensatory fine is analogous to a tort judgment for damages caused by wrongful conduct. "The sanction is employed not to vindicate the court's authority but to make reparation to the injured party and restore the parties to the position they would have held had the injunction been obeyed." Vuitton et Fils S.A. v. Carousel Handbags, 592 F.2d 126, 130 (2d Cir. 1979)

Four South Carolina cases have addressed the subject of compensatory contempt. In the most recent one, Curlee v. Howle, the supreme court limited a compensatory contempt award to litigation costs incurred by a mother arising out of her former spouse's failure to abide by a previous court order, including air fare, lodging, attorney fees, and detective fees. 277 S.C. 377, 387, 287 S.E.2d 915, 920 (1982). "Compensatory contempt is a money award for the plaintiff when the defendant has injured the plaintiff by violating a previous court order. The goal is to indemnify the plaintiff directly for harm the contemnor caused by breaching the injunction. Courts utilize compensatory contempt to restore the plaintiff as nearly as possible to his original position." Id. at 386, 287 S.E.2d at 919.

Stated another way, compensatory contempt is "money awarded to a party who is injured by the contemnor's action to restore the party to his original position and is limited to the party's actual loss." Whetstone v. Whetstone, 309 S.C. 227,...