Court Error – Abuse of Discretion

By: Derek Hawkins//December 26, 2018//

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Seventh Avenue, Inc. v. Shaf International, Inc.

Case No.: 18-1829

Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error – Abuse of Discretion

We review a district court’s decision to hold a corporation in contempt of a consent judgment when its outside counsel failed to respond to a motion alleging a violation of the judgment and to appear at a hearing on the motion. All of this was unfortunate and avoidable—the product of a communication breakdown between the company’s local counsel and national counsel and a lack of attention to email notifications from the district court of the contempt motion, briefing schedule, and hearing date. We cannot say the district court abused its discretion in entering the contempt order and requiring the company to pay its adversary’s fees and costs.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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