Description: Ruminations (brief and to the point) on the law and the legal system, by Daniel J. Klau.
It is black letter law in Connecticut that civil contempt requires proof of wilfulness. But that wasn’t always the case in our state. And it has never been the case under federal law. See McComb v . Jacksonville Paper Co . , 336 U.S. 187, 191, 69 S. Ct. 497, 93 L.Ed. 599 (1949) (“[t]he absence of wilfulness does not relieve from civil contempt. Civil as distinguished from criminal contempt is a sanction to enforce compliance with an order of the court or to compensate for losses or damages sustained by reas
How did wilfulness come to be a required element of civil contempt in Connecticut? Should it be an element? What effect have fairly recent Connecticut Supreme Court decisions–particularly O’Brien v. O’Brien (2017)–had on the law of civil contempt, including the Superior Court’s power to award remedial damages for non-wilful violations of court orders?
These and related questions are addressed in a recent article I wrote on the topic. Here are a few paragraphs from the Conclusion: