Ransom

This is a proceeding to review an order of -thé Superior Court for Los Angeles County adjudging petitioner guilty of contémpt of court for his refusal to answer - a question propounded to him in supplemental proceedings- after judgment in the case of Ransom v. Ransom, number WED 9652, now pending in said court, in which action he is the defendant.

In February 1967, the respondent court entered an interlocutory judgment of divorce in favor of the plaintiff Violet Ransom. This judgment provides in part that defendant pay certain sums for her support, together with the amounts due on their income tax for 1965, and the value of certain carpeting, and the cost of replacing certain furniture. Based on a declaration of plaintiff’s attorney alleging defendant’s failure to pay some $11,800 owing under the judgment, plaintiff obtained an order requiring defendant to appear before a referee of the court on January 17, 1968, under section 714 of the Code of Civil Procedure to answer questions concerning his property. Plaintiff alleges in her petition to this court that during the first part of the hearing which was conducted informally in the attorney’s conference room, defendant refused to…