Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC v. Nicolas
In a post-foreclosure Rule 1.540 fraud proceeding, the trial court — before completing the evidentiary hearing or resolving the disputed fact of which entity was the loan servicer — signed the borrower's proposed order to show cause charging the trustee, two non-party servicers, and the trustee's attorney with indirect criminal contempt for perjury, threatening jail. The Third DCA granted prohibition, quashed the order, and directed reassignment to a different judge, holding that an unresolved ordinary factual dispute based on conflicting testimony cannot support a criminal contempt charge for perjury.
Key facts
- Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC sought to vacate a foreclosure judgment in a Rule 1.540 fraud proceeding by filing a motion against Nicolas and others.
- Before completing the evidentiary hearing or resolving the disputed factual issue of which entity was the loan servicer, the trial court signed an order to show cause charging the trustee, two non-party servicers, and the trustee's attorney with indirect criminal contempt for perjury.
- +2 more key facts with a free trial
Why it matters
This opinion gives civil litigators a concrete vehicle — prohibition — to halt escalating criminal contempt threats used as a litigation tactic, and it extends Emanuel's rule that credibility-based factual disputes… — full analysis with a trial
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