Ex parte Roy

595 S.W.2d 875, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3046
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 14, 1980
DocketNo. 20369
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 595 S.W.2d 875 (Ex parte Roy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex parte Roy, 595 S.W.2d 875, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3046 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

GUITTARD, Chief Justice.

Relator was found in contempt for disobedience of a temporary support order pending divorce proceedings and was committed to jail. In this application for a writ of habeas corpus, he attacks the commitment order on the ground that it recites no finding of the manner in which he violated the support order and improperly requires him to pay an attorney’s fee as a condition of his release. We grant the writ on the ground that the order is void because of the absence of a finding of the particular violation. We also hold that the order is not sufficient to require payment of an attorney’s fee.

The commitment order is a printed form with deletions and blanks filled as follows:

On this the 12th day of October A.D.1979 came on regularly to be heard, the sworn motion of Plaintiff-Defendant to adjudge the said Plaintiff-Defendant to be in contempt of this Court for failure to observe and obey the order, judgment and decree of this court of record in Minute Book 13 at page 382 of the minutes of this court; and came the Plaintiff-Defendant in person and by attorney, and came Plaintiff-Defendant in person and by attorney and all matters of law and fact having been submitted to the court, and the court having heard the evidence, the pleadings and the argument of counsel is of the opinion, and so finds that the Plaintiff-Defendant has failed to observe and obey the order, judgment and decree shown on the records of this court referred to above, and that _he is and should be adjudged to be in contempt of this court for such failure and disobedience;
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED by this court that Lewis Rov. Jr. be, and_he is adjudged to be in contempt of this court for such failure and disobedience, and the punishment therefor .is fixed and assessed at a fine of $0 and confinement by the Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas, in the Common jail of Dallas County, Texas, for a period of 72 hours, and thereafter further confined in said jail until_he has fully purged himself of such contempt by the full observance and obedience of the decree of this court referred to above by the payment of the sum of $2.380.00 for the support of his children.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that all commitments, writs, attachments and other process necessary for the enforcement of this order be issued. Enforcement of this order suspended for..⅛.
Attorney’s Fees $400.00
Court E Costs

This order does not state the amount relator has failed to pay, although it recites in general terms that relator “has failed to observe and obey the order shown on the records of this court referred to above” and that he “is adjudged to be in contempt of this court for such failure and disobedience.” It orders him confined until he has purged himself of contempt “by the payment of the sum of $2,380.00 for the support of his children,” but this provision cannot be construed as a finding that his arrearage amounted to this sum. Consequently, the commitment order is void under the holding of the supreme court in Ex parte Proctor, 398 S.W.2d 917, 918 (Tex.1966). We recently had occasion to apply the Proctor rule to an order using a printed form identical to that in this case. Ex parte Jenkins, 593 S.W.2d 395 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas, No.

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Related

Ex Parte Sweeney
628 S.W.2d 855 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
595 S.W.2d 875, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-roy-texapp-1980.