J. C. Strunk Et Al. v. Lewis Coal Company

DAUGHTREY, Judge. OPINION This appeal results from the alleged violation of an injunction issued in a Morgan County labor dispute and prohibiting the defendants and others from engaging in violence and mass picketing against the plaintiff coal company. At the Conclusion of the contempt hearing, the Chancellor found the defendants guilty by a preponderance of the evidence, and sentenced all but Russell to ten days in jail and fined them each $50.00. Russell was found guilty of multiple acts of contempt, sentenced to twenty days in the county jail, and fined $100.00. The Chancellor suspended one-half the jail term as to each defendant. There is only one issue raised on appeal: whether the Chancellor applied the appropriate standard of proof in making his determination of the defendants' guilt. The resolution of the substantive question seems clear. There can be little doubt that the alleged contempt was criminal rather than civil in nature, regardless of the fact that the original proceeding was brought in a court of equity. This Conclusion is inescapable from a reading of State ex rel. Anderson v. Daugherty, 137 Tenn. 125, 191 S.W. 974 (1917), and the cases which have followed it. See, e.g., Nashville Corporation v. United Steelworkers of America, 187 Tenn. 444, 215 S.W.2d 818, 821 (1948); see also Gunn v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel.Co., 201 Tenn. 38, 296 S.W.2d 843 (1956). Once it has been determined that the contempt is criminal in nature, the law requires that the defendants' guilt be established beyond a reasonable doubt. State ex rel. Anderson v. Daugherty, supra; Nashville Corp. v. United Steelworkers of America, supra; Gunn v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel.Co., supra; Robinson v. Air Draulics Engineering Co., 214 Tenn. 30, 377 S.W.2d 908 (1964). Here the Chancellor correctly recognized the criminal nature of the proceeding, but he explicitly invoked the wrong standard of proof. Thus, the appellants were denied due process of law guaranteed under both the state and federal constitutions and their assignment of error must be sustained.