Court of Appeal, First District, Division 4, California

“ Criminal Judgment, § 155, p. 183) , its linking of the compensatory damages of the contract action with the contempt fine was in error (see In re Wales (1957) 153 Cal.App.2d 117, 119 [“a contempt proceeding is not a civil action, either at law or in equity, but is a separate proceeding of a criminal nature [citations] notwithstanding the recognized practice to prosecute the contempt in the cause or proceeding out of which it arose....”] ”

“ The court fined Armstrong $200 for each violation for a total of $2,600 and ordered that he be confined a total of 26 days in the county jail. Again, Armstrong failed to appear at the contempt proceedings. A third order to show cause re contempt proceeding was issued in December 2000. Armstrong filed an opposition to the court's order to show cause but did not appear at the hearing. In his opposition, Armstrong admitted that he had violated the injunction but argued that he signed the settlement agreement under duress and that the injunction was unlawful. ”

“ Superior Court (1956) 142 Cal.App.2d 47, 54 [court erred in awarding compensatory damages in contempt action] ) . The court simply had no authority to order the fine in the contempt proceeding “concurrent” with the judgment in the civil action.
III. DISPOSITION The petition for writ of certiorari is granted in part. The trial court is directed to reinstate the sentences previously imposed on Armstrong for the contempt citations of June 5, 1997 and February 20, 1998 and to reinstate the fine on the third contempt citation. The parties are to bear their own costs. ”