In this earlier post, my current colleague Danny Spiegel (who was an NC Assistant Appellate Defender at the time the post was published), analyzed the law of civil contempt and concluded that “springing orders for arrest upon future nonpayment of purge payments in child support civil contempt proceeding without contemporaneous inquiry into ability to pay” are unlawful. https://civil.sog.unc.edu/civil-contempt-and-springing-orders-for-arrest/ In an opinion issued June 18, 2025, the NC Court of Appeals agreed with that assessment. Collins v. Holley, NC App. (June 18, 2025).
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Tag: civil contempt
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Contempt: Does an Order to Show Cause have to be served by Rule 4 service?
It is a common question: when the court issues an order to show cause for contempt, how is that order served on a respondent? Is the order required to be served pursuant to Rule 4 of the Rules of Civil Procedure (generally meaning personal service by the sheriff or certified mail) or is Rule 5 service sufficient (generally meaning regular mail to the party or party’s attorney)? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a bit murky.
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The Clerk’s Contempt Authority
**UPDATE: Effective July 21, 2017, Session Law 2017-158 expands the clerk’s civil contempt authority. The clerk now has the authority to exercise civil contempt in any instance when the clerk has original subject matter jurisdiction and issued the order that is the basis for the civil contempt in addition to any instance where a statute expressly provides for the clerk’s civil contempt authority. See S.L. 2017-158, Sec. 11.**
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