In Re Holmes

No appearance for Real Party in Interest.

OPINION

LUI, J. —

After a hearing by the court, Attorney Susan Holmes (petitioner) was found in contempt of court for assisting her husband Gerald [1] in attempting to avoid service of a subpoena. She was sentenced to eight hours in custody and a $500 fine. She seeks review of the contempt proceedings below by way of her petition for writ of habeas corpus or, in the alternative, for a writ of certiorari.

Petitioner attacks the proceedings below on several grounds. The principal ground of attack questions whether a person who knowingly assists another person in evading service of process is acting unlawfully, and thereby by in a manner that is within the acts or omissions constituting contempt set forth in Code of Civil Procedure section 1209, subdivision 8. [2] We conclude that petitioner's actions were unlawful and that in the future any such actions would constitute contempt as a violation of the foregoing section. Although we find petitioner's conduct unlawful under this section, we have determined that this decision should not be applied retrospectively since this issue is "of first impression whose resolution was not clearly…