Chapter 15-2 Courts' Inherent Authority to Sanction

• Jurisdiction: Florida

15-2 Courts' Inherent Authority to Sanction

15-2:1 Courts' Authority to Sanction

The courts of the State of Florida are possessed of a broad, discretionary power to impose silence, respect, and decorum, as well as to ensure that parties' actions are consistent with court mandates.⁶ This inherent power of the courts to hold parties or counsel in contempt of court may be exercised in attempts to enforce and ensure compliance with orders.⁷

Contempt sanctions fall into two basic categories: criminal contempt and civil con-tempt.⁸ The threshold of whether a sanction is criminal or civil in nature turns, on a case-by-case basis, upon the character and purpose of the sanctions involved.⁹

Additionally, the courts have the inherent authority to sanction abusive litigants, in order to safeguard the right to access the courts.¹⁰ Generally, a court may only enter sanctions in the form of attorney's fees when such fees are expressly provided by statute, rule or contract; however, the courts possess the inherent authority to assess fees for misconduct during the course of litigation.¹¹

15-2:2 Differences Between Contempt and Sanctions

Criminal contempt sanctions have punishment as their traditional purpose, usually for violation of a court order.¹² In the case of criminal contempt, the contemnor is afforded the constitutional due process protections normally afforded to criminal defendants, including the right to be represented by counsel, the right to the reasonable doubt standard of proof, the right to not incriminate oneself, jury trial rights in cases involving imprisonment lasting more than six months, and protections afforded under the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.¹³ In the event that the contemnor's alleged conduct includes disrespect to or criticism of the judge, the judge must disqualify himself or herself from presiding at the hearing, due to the subject due process constraints imposed on the process.¹⁴

Alternatively, civil contempt sanctions are remedial or for the benefit of the aggrieved party.¹⁵ Civil contempt sanctions come with fewer procedural protections.¹⁶ Civil contempt sanctions require only notice and an opportunity to be heard.¹⁷ In a civil contempt proceeding, the contemnor must be afforded the ability to purge the contempt and cure the problem.¹⁸

Civil contempt sanctions may be either compensatory or coercive.¹⁹ Coercive sanctions may include, without limitation, incarceration, garnishment of wages and the revocation of a driver's license.²⁰ Notwithstanding the fact that the sanction may include incarceration, a contempt order may still technically be civil, if and only if it provides a provision allowing the contemnor to purge.²¹ The ability to purge means that the contemnor must possess the ability to avoid further incar-ceration.²² Trial courts may also dismiss actions determined to be frivolous.²³ Civil contempt sanctions may not be entered where a party acts recklessly, rather than intentionally.²⁴

The courts' inherent authority to sanction bad faith conduct during the course of litigation is altogether separate from the courts' contempt powers, but presents an additional form of sanctions that the courts may enter.²⁵

15-2:3 Limitations on the Inherent Authority to Sanction

The purpose of the inherent authority to enter sanctions for contempt is twofold: first, it enforces compliance with prior orders.²⁶ Secondly, the sanction seeks to modify the behavior of the sanctioned party.²⁷ However, the inherent contempt power of judges is a power that is noted as being consistently ripe for abuse, because the judge is responsible not only for identifying, pursuing and adjudicating any potentially contumacious activity, but is also responsible for entering any sanctions stemming from that judge's adjudication.²⁸ A judge is barred from basing contempt upon noncompliance with an order on anything other than what is expressly and clearly contained within the order.²⁹ Moreover, consideration must be paid to the potential contemnor's financial situation, particularly where a contempt order may provide for incarceration.³⁰

Additionally, there are certain limits on when courts may impose sanctions and which sanctions courts may impose. Courts should not deny access to courts, but may limit access due to abusive or frivolous filings.³¹ In terms of awarding attorney's fees as a sanction, the courts' ability is narrow, and should only be exercised where a party has exhibited egregious conduct or acted in bad faith.³² Where a statute or rule provides for sanctions, then that sanction or rule should be utilized, instead of the courts' inherent authority.³³

With regard to which sanctions...