Contempt Of Court: A State Of Mind Or A Night In Jail?

Copyright (c) 2009 Lucille Uttermohlen

To say Judgipoo and I don't always get along is an exaggeration. We rarely get through a hearing together that one of us doesn't say something rude. Since one of us can hold the other in contempt, you would think that the other one would be a bit cautious. She is, for the most part. She doesn't look good in orange, and until the county jail picks different colored jumpers, she will try to avoid the worse aspects of Judgipoo's wrath. However, today was one of those days that she did wonder if jail issue shoes were also orange.

Today started out peacefully enough. When I got to court, I was on time, and not a minute early. My first case was a contempt citation which was filed against one of my clients.

This was one of those situations where Mom isn't over cooperative, and Dad is a born again whiner. Neither of them would walk across the street to spit on the other if said street was an inch wider than say a 4 lane highway. If one of them got hit by a bus, the other may not rent a hall for the party, but you can bet some celebration of the event would occur.

Because of their delightfully civil attitude towards each other, they can't talk about anything. You wouldn't think a lawyer would find this fact annoying. Cranky uncooperative people are repeat clients, and a girl does have to make a living. But, self interest aside, if only for a moment, it would be nice if some of these people could get through a couple of visitation weekends without involving lawyers, the police, or you guessed it, our cranky friend, judgipoo.

Judgipoo and I are always polite when things start out. I manage a sincere "good morning" when His Honor enters the courtroom. He returns the greeting cordially, and then the fun begins.

Have you ever seen that Warner Brothers cartoon where the sheep dog and the coyote chase each other around snarling and snapping until a buzzer goes off? In the next scene, they are standing beside the time clock, shaking hands and promising to see each other at work tomorrow. In short, it is nothing personal, both of them were just doing there jobs. They could be perfectly friendly when they weren't tearing each other apart for a living.

This cartoon could be used as a warning to law school freshmen. Lawyers can scream invectives at each other in open court, but when the hearing is over, they can walk across the street together for a cup of coffee. Judgipoo and I don't do lunch, but when we are not engaged in open battle, we even joke with each other.

This way too early morning, I was defending a lady on a contempt citation. This is what you file if your ex-husband, or ex-wife doesn't follow court orders. If for instance, one of the parents gets behind in child support, or won't let the other exercise visitation, he can end up paying the other parent's attorneys fees, spending time in jail, or doing a little of both, if he / she catches the judge in the right mood. Judgipoo is usually in that mood.

This morning, my client inadvertently let it slip that she could cooperate with the visitation schedule, but she would have to give up her alternate Sundays with her boyfriend and his kids to do it. I suggested that would be a good idea, since driving the kids to see their dad was more important than hanging out with her boyfriend. Opposing counsel said that we hadn't bothered to mention that possibility to her before this morning. I hadn't told her, because (1) I love to be yelled at by Judgipoo, or, (2) I didn't know myself until just that very moment. Judgipoo apparently thought that (1) was the right answer, and he told opposing counsel, "for all I know, they just made that up."

I'm totally blind, but at that moment a miracle occurred, and I could see red. Without thinking that our left over chicken and noodles might be a heck of a lot nicer tasting than whatever they were serving at the White County Lock up that night, I blirted, "what the hell did you mean by that?"

Judgipoo was startled. So was I. Quiet fell over the courtroom. The Venus lawyer traps licked their lips in anticipation of a tasty meal of chopped attorney, and I was so mad at the moment that I was hoping to give them some French fried Judgipoo for dessert. It was then that another miracle occurred. Judgipoo apologized.

Related Articles

• Solicitor plays biggest role for Conveyancing in Twickenham
• How to hire the divorce lawyers in Twickenham?
• Why to hire the services for Conveyancing in Twickenham?
• What is the essence to hire the lawyers in Twickenham?
• Need to hire the conveyancing lawyer in Twickenham

HTML Ready Article. Click on the "Copy" button to copy into your clipboard.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd'><html><head><title>Look For Articles - Articles Directory | Contempt Of Court: A State Of Mind Or A Night In Jail?</title></head><body><h3>Contempt Of Court: A State Of Mind Or A Night In Jail?</h3><br><br> By: Lucille Uttermohlen<br><br><p><p>Copyright (c) 2009 Lucille Uttermohlen</P><p>To say Judgipoo and I don't always get along is an exaggeration. We rarely get through a hearing together that one of us doesn't say something rude. Since one of us can hold the other in contempt, you would think that the other one would be a bit cautious. She is, for the most part. She doesn't look good in orange, and until the county jail picks different colored jumpers, she will try to avoid the worse aspects of Judgipoo's wrath. However, today was one of those days that she did wonder if jail issue shoes were also orange.</P><p>Today started out peacefully enough. When I got to court, I was on time, and not a minute early. My first case was a contempt citation which was filed against one of my clients.</P><p>This was one of those situations where Mom isn't over cooperative, and Dad is a born again whiner. Neither of them would walk across the street to spit on the other if said street was an inch wider than say a 4 lane highway. If one of them got hit by a bus, the other may not rent a hall for the party, but you can bet some celebration of the event would occur.</P><p>Because of their delightfully civil attitude towards each other, they can't talk about anything. You wouldn't think a lawyer would find this fact annoying. Cranky uncooperative people are repeat clients, and a girl does have to make a living. But, self interest aside, if only for a moment, it would be nice if some of these people could get through a couple of visitation weekends without involving lawyers, the police, or you guessed it, our cranky friend, judgipoo.</P><p>Judgipoo and I are always polite when things start out. I manage a sincere "good morning" when His Honor enters the courtroom. He returns the greeting cordially, and then the fun begins.</P><p>Have you ever seen that Warner Brothers cartoon where the sheep dog and the coyote chase each other around snarling and snapping until a buzzer goes off? In the next scene, they are standing beside the time clock, shaking hands and promising to see each other at work tomorrow. In short, it is nothing personal, both of them were just doing there jobs. They could be perfectly friendly when they weren't tearing each other apart for a living.</P><p>This cartoon could be used as a warning to law school freshmen. Lawyers can scream invectives at each other in open court, but when the hearing is over, they can walk across the street together for a cup of coffee. Judgipoo and I don't do lunch, but when we are not engaged in open battle, we even joke with each other.</P><p>This way too early morning, I was defending a lady on a contempt citation. This is what you file if your ex-husband, or ex-wife doesn't follow court orders. If for instance, one of the parents gets behind in child support, or won't let the other exercise visitation, he can end up paying the other parent's attorneys fees, spending time in jail, or doing a little of both, if he / she catches the judge in the right mood. Judgipoo is usually in that mood.</P><p>This morning, my client inadvertently let it slip that she could cooperate with the visitation schedule, but she would have to give up her alternate Sundays with her boyfriend and his kids to do it. I suggested that would be a good idea, since driving the kids to see their dad was more important than hanging out with her boyfriend. Opposing counsel said that we hadn't bothered to mention that possibility to her before this morning. I hadn't told her, because (1) I love to be yelled at by Judgipoo, or, (2) I didn't know myself until just that very moment. Judgipoo apparently thought that (1) was the right answer, and he told opposing counsel, "for all I know, they just made that up."</P><p>I'm totally blind, but at that moment a miracle occurred, and I could see red. Without thinking that our left over chicken and noodles might be a heck of a lot nicer tasting than whatever they were serving at the White County Lock up that night, I blirted, "what the hell did you mean by that?"</P><p>Judgipoo was startled. So was I. Quiet fell over the courtroom. The Venus lawyer traps licked their lips in anticipation of a tasty meal of chopped attorney, and I was so mad at the moment that I was hoping to give them some French fried Judgipoo for dessert. It was then that another miracle occurred. Judgipoo apologized.<br></P></p> <br><br> <b>Author Resource:-></b>  When she's not tending her imaginary rain forests in Judgipoo's courtroom, Lucille writes about adult relationship issues at <A href="http://www.couple-or-not.com/">http://www.couple-or-not.com</A> Her blog is <A href="http://www.couple-or-not/blog">http://www.couple-or-not/blog</A> and you can always email legal questions or just vent at lucille@couple-or-not.com<br><br><br><b>Article From</b> <a href='http://www.look4articles.com/'>Look For Articles - Articles Directory</a><br></body></html>