Charbonneau

In this proceeding in prohibition, petitioner Robert L. Charbonneau, an attorney, seeks to set aside an order of the Los Angeles Superior Court adjudging him in contempt of court and sentencing him to jail for two days.

In brief, petitioner represented the plaintiffs in two (consolidated) cases. The basis for the claimed liability of defendants was an alleged defective brake system in a 1966 Lincoln Continental automobile in which plaintiffs were riding at the time of the accident which caused their injuries. One of the claimed defects was that the vehicle was manufactured with a single master cylinder in the brake system instead of a dual master cylinder.

The Order and Judgment of Contempt

The order and judgment of contempt filed on December 14, 1973, in pertinent part, reads as follows:

There are no recitals in the order and judgment of contempt of either “disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior” (Code Civ. Proc., § 1209, subd. 1) or “boisterous conduct, or violent disturbance, tending to interrupt the due course of a trial.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 1209, subd. 2.) The jurisdictional foundation for the subject order of contempt must therefore lie in one or more…