Ivy v. Keith

92 S.W.3d 671, 351 Ark. 269, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 634
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 12, 2002
Docket02-283
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 92 S.W.3d 671 (Ivy v. Keith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ivy v. Keith, 92 S.W.3d 671, 351 Ark. 269, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 634 (Ark. 2002).

Opinions

Robert L. Brown, Justice.

Petitioner Dan Ivy petitions this court for a writ of certiorari that respondent, Honorable Tom J. Keith, circuit judge, has exceeded his authority in sentencing Mr. Ivy to jail for thirty-six days for contempt of court.1 In the alternative, Mr. Ivy appeals Judge Keith’s order that he serve this sentence for contempt. The respondent, Judge Keith, found the petitioner in contempt of court after he failed to pay Rule 11 sanctions in connection with a civil case tried in his court. Judge Keith sentenced Mr. Ivy to thirty-six days in jail. He also orally ordered a payment schedule of $1,000 a month to begin sixty days after release from jail. On March 27, 2002, this court stayed Judge Keith’s order and granted Mr. Ivy’s motion for expedited appeal. Judge Keith has requested that the Attorney General not file a brief on his behalf. We are, therefore, limited in our review to Mr. Ivy’s brief in support of the petition.

The facts leading up to the Rule 11 sanctions are taken from Judge Keith’s Order for Rule 11 Sanctions. On March 2, 2001, Mr. Ivy filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Jerry Otis for damages arising from a car accident between Otis and Helen R. Walton. In his complaint, Mr. Ivy prayed for punitive damages on the basis that Mrs. Walton was intoxicated at the time of the accident and the Bentonville Police Department “knowingly protected her reputation.” On November 16, 2001, Judge Keith granted partial summary judgment in favor of Mrs. Walton on the punitive damages issue, finding that there was “not even a scintilla of evidence” supporting Mr. Ivy’s allegations made on behalf of Otis.

Mr. Ivy refused to retract his claim on behalf of Otis, however, and subsequently, according to Judge Keith, “compounded the seriousness of the [Rule 11] violation by restating the allegation in an amended complaint and various other pleadings filed with the Court.” On December 7, 2001, Judge Keith found that Mr. Ivy’s allegations on behalf of Otis “were not made in good faith, but rather were imposed for an improper purpose” and, thus, violated Rule 11 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. Judge Keith’s order for Rule 11 sanctions imposed a $12,085.27 fine on Mr. Ivy which amount corresponded to opposing counsel’s attorneys’ fees and costs. The sanction was to be paid within thirty days. The Rule 11 order also stated: “The failure to pay this sanction within 30 days of the entry of this Order shall constitute contempt of court.”

On January 25, 2002, during a pretrial hearing on the Otis case, Mr. Ivy told Judge Keith that he had been served with an order for Rule 11 sanctions. Mr. Ivy questioned the judge about whether the contempt threat was standard practice in his court. The judge replied, “That’s — that’s the Court’s order, Mr. Ivy.” Mr. Ivy then asked whether, if he was unable to pay the sanction, should he submit himself to go to jail. Judge Keith responded, “If you want —• if you want to admit contempt of Court and go to jail, that’s up to you.”

On February 11, 2002, in an effort to settle with Mrs. Walton, Mr. Ivy sent a letter to Mrs. Walton’s counsel and offered to pay the Rule 11 sanctions at a rate of $500.00 per month, beginning on March 1, 2002. The next day, Mrs. Walton’s counsel alerted Judge Keith that Mr. Ivy had made no payments on his fine and of Mr. Ivy’s settlement offer, which counsel maintained he had no power to accept because it would violate the Judge’s order.

On February 20, 2002, Judge Keith issued a summons for Mr. Ivy to appear in court on March 7, 2002, and show cause why he should not be held in contempt for violating the judge’s Rule 11 order.

On March 7, 2002, Judge Keith conducted the contempt hearing, at which time Mr. Ivy told Judge Keith that the reason he had not complied with the order was he did not have enough money to pay the Rule 11 sanctions. The judge asked Mr. Ivy if he had any evidence in support of his claim of inability to pay. Mr. Ivy replied that he was under oath as an attorney to tell the truth, and then related a litany of financial problems: he stated that he owed $300,000 to the IRS as the result of a divorce, that he had lost all of his office assets to satisfy a judgment against him and that his mother had bought them at auction, and that he owned no assets beyond clothing and personal possessions. Mr. Ivy recounted previous times that he had been ordered to pay money to the other side and reminded the court that he had always paid his fines on those occasions. Mr. Ivy related that the nature of his practice was such that he had an uneven cash flow from one day to the next.

The following colloquy then occurred:

Mr. Ivy: It would be difficult for me to come up with $500 today, in fact I couldn’t, but tomorrow I could have $20,000 in my pocket. ... I have taken a vow of poverty when I became a minister —
The Court: I don’t want to hear that. I agree with that old sage who says religion and patriotism become the last refuge of scoundrels. And I don’t want to hear that. This is a civil courtroom and I don’t want to hear that.
Mr. Ivy: Then I wish to object, your Honor.
The Court: Well, I don’t care if you object.
Mr. Ivy: And I wish to proffer.
The Court: I — I don’t care. You’re — what your religious leanings or practices are is your business but it’s not a part of this proceeding.
Mr. Ivy: Then God has no place in your courtroom, Your Honor?
The Court: What your religious practices are, Mr. Ivy, do not have any part in this proceeding. Now, you may continue, but — but I don’t want — what you do in your religious practice is your business, it’s not a part of this proceeding.
Mr. Ivy: Your Honor, if —•
The Court: Did I understand you to say that you agree that — that the appropriate step for the Court to take at this time is to incarcerate you?
Mr. Ivy: Your Honor, yes, Your Honor. I see no alternative to it. I have — I have no way to pay the Court. The other side, the richest woman in the world has the money —
The Court: I don’t want — I don’t want you engaging in that kind of language in this court. I’m sick and tired of you using this inflammatory language. You’re no Robin Hood, you’re no Friar Tuck and I don’t want to — I don’t want you playing the role in this courtroom.
Mr. Ivy: Your Honor, I consider myself to be a Robin Hood.
The Court: Well, you’re no Robin Hood and you’re certainly no Friar Tuck. Anything else you wish to say?
Mr. Ivy: . . . Your honor has the right to put me in jail for whatever time, five years if you want to. Of course, at that point some — certain rights might kick in, might become criminal. But when an attorney tries to stand up for truth and justice —
The Court: That doesn’t have anything to do with this. We’ve already addressed that issue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 S.W.3d 671, 351 Ark. 269, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ivy-v-keith-ark-2002.