4 ms·

They are being ordered to disclose and they are refusing to do it. The article says the lawyer requested to be held in "friendly contempt." I'm pretty sure that

They are being ordered to disclose and they are refusing to do it. The article says the lawyer requested to be held in "friendly contempt." I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. It would probably be more accurate to say that the lawyer conceded the company was in contempt (i.e. they were refusing the order to produce and maybe even conceding it was legal) and was requesting a light sanction. The strategy seems rather bold. I am not versed in Illinois contempt law, but judges have very broad constitutional authority to sanction people or companies for intentional failure to comply with a lawful order. In this case, you could expect the judge to do something like order the company to pay five thousand dollars per day until they disclose the records. There could be an argument that the judge could legally order the sheriff to seize their servers or throw the CEO in jail until the company complies, but for some reason stuff like that doesn't seem to ever happen in the corporate context.

thereare5lights 4y ago
> The article says the lawyer requested to be held in "friendly contempt." I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. It's a thing https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.idc.law/resource/resmgr/quarterly_v26-27/27.2.30.pdf https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.idc.law/resource/resmgr/quarterly_... > This procedure is often called “friendly contempt,” a recognition that the contemnor has not acted “with contumacious disregard for the court’s authority,” but requires a contempt finding and sanction for the purpose of obtaining appellate review. See Klaine v. S. Ill. Hosp. Servs., 2016 IL 118217, ¶ 6; Zagorski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 IL App (5th) 140056, ¶¶ 16-17. In many cases, the contemnor has even requested the finding and sanction for that purpose. See Ctr. Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC, 2012 IL 113107, ¶ 20.
- HWR_14 4y ago
  The main reason to ask for "friendly contempt" (as per your article) is to get a contempt order in place so it can be appealed. Until then, there is no reason for an appeals court to look at the decision. So this is the lawyer asking to appeal the original judge's order of disclosure, and this is the obscure process that makes that happen.
- public_defender 4y ago
  Oh interesting, thanks. I'm a criminal lawyer and contempt in my domain has been contumacious or not at all.
jfoutz 4y ago
My expertise goes as far as drama TV - but uh since this is a corporation, wouldn't the fine be more like average daily revenue /2 ? A night in the pokey seems pretty common, and that's kinda as close as you can get for the company. Maybe a night in jail isn't all that common though. Sure seems reasonable and effective.
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  On TV they need the “getting back at the man” narrative to get viewers juices going.
  - jfoutz 4y ago
    Ha! I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are a few where the evil journalist or priest is held in contempt hindering finding the bad guy.

thereare5lights 4y ago

> The article says the lawyer requested to be held in "friendly contempt." I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. It's a thing https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.idc.law/resource/resmgr/quarterly_v26-27/27.2.30.pdf https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.idc.law/resource/resmgr/quarterly_... > This procedure is often called “friendly contempt,” a recognition that the contemnor has not acted “with contumacious disregard for the court’s authority,” but requires a contempt finding and sanction for the purpose of obtaining appellate review. See Klaine v. S. Ill. Hosp. Servs., 2016 IL 118217, ¶ 6; Zagorski v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2016 IL App (5th) 140056, ¶¶ 16-17. In many cases, the contemnor has even requested the finding and sanction for that purpose. See Ctr. Partners, Ltd. v. Growth Head GP, LLC, 2012 IL 113107, ¶ 20.

HWR_14 4y ago
The main reason to ask for "friendly contempt" (as per your article) is to get a contempt order in place so it can be appealed. Until then, there is no reason for an appeals court to look at the decision. So this is the lawyer asking to appeal the original judge's order of disclosure, and this is the obscure process that makes that happen.
public_defender 4y ago
Oh interesting, thanks. I'm a criminal lawyer and contempt in my domain has been contumacious or not at all.

jfoutz 4y ago

My expertise goes as far as drama TV - but uh since this is a corporation, wouldn't the fine be more like average daily revenue /2 ? A night in the pokey seems pretty common, and that's kinda as close as you can get for the company. Maybe a night in jail isn't all that common though. Sure seems reasonable and effective.

quickthrower2 4y ago
On TV they need the “getting back at the man” narrative to get viewers juices going.
- jfoutz 4y ago
  Ha! I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are a few where the evil journalist or priest is held in contempt hindering finding the bad guy.