Heightened Standard for Imposition of Civil Contempt Sanctions Arising from Violation of Discharge Order

Types : Bylined Articles

On June 3, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court released a unanimous decision in Taggart v. Lorenzen concluding that a court is authorized to “impose civil contempt sanctions when there is no objectively reasonable basis for concluding that the creditor’s conduct might be lawful under the discharge order.” [1] Put another way, “civil contempt … may be appropriate when the creditor violates a discharge order based on an objectively unreasonable understanding of the discharge order or the statutes that govern its scope.” [2] In doing so, the Supreme Court held that “the [Ninth] Court of Appeals erred in applying a subjective standard for civil contempt. Based on the traditional principles that govern civil contempt, the proper standard is an objective one.” [3]

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