Indirect Contempt Can Happen outside of Court
Video Transcribed: What is indirect contempt of court in Oklahoma? I’m James Wirth and I’m an attorney in Tulsa. That’s the question that we have. It involves contempt of court. And there are actually two types of contempt. There’s direct contempt and indirect contempt.
This video involves indirect contempt of court, and that’s the more typical type that we might think of. It’s violating a court order. And I’ve actually got the statutory definition for that. It is in Title 21, Section 565, and it says, “Indirect contempts of court shall consist of willful disobedience of any process or order lawfully issued or made by the court, resistance willfully offered by any person to the execution of a lawful order or process of a court.”
So generally, that means it’s a failure to follow a court order. That would generally mean that the court made an order that’s been filed with the case, notice has been given to the person, and the person is actively and intentionally violating that court’s order. That’s indirect contempt of court. That can be filed by the other party that is opposing it. Essentially, that is the person that is aggrieved by the failure to comport with the court’s order. That person can file an application for contempt of court that the judge can sign off on, they can be served with, and actually, be held for arraignment.
It works like a criminal case in a lot of respects from that point to where the court can actually order a sentence of up to six months imprisonment for violating the court’s order and/or up to a $500 fine. And that is indirect contempt of court. It is different from direct contempt of court, which involves contempt that occurs in the presence of the judge where the judge witnessed the violation, where they’re violating court decorum or other issues. But I’m going to handle another video related to direct contempt of court.
If you have any questions about contempt of court in general or anything legally related to the State of Oklahoma, you’re going to want to talk to an Oklahoma court lawyer about that privately and confidentially. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you’d go online to makelaweasy.com.
