Opinion
Case No. 97-11104-RS.
October 5, 2007
Harold Murphy, as Chapter 7 Trustee of 110 Beaver Street Partnership ("the Trustee"), moves for the Court to issue an order to show cause why Jeffrey Buster, Martha Eakin, and Paul McGinty (collectively, "the Respondents") should not be held in contempt of this Court's order of June 19, 2007, by which this Court approved a settlement agreement between Trustee Murphy and the defendants in a certain civil action (the "Settlement Order"). The Respondents oppose the contempt motion.
In relevant part, the Settlement Order authorized the Trustee to terminate the 110 Beaver Street Trust and to substitute himself as sole plaintiff in a the civil action. It further declared that upon termination of the trust, the Trustee shall have the sole and exclusive right to take those actions necessary to dismiss the civil action on behalf of all plaintiffs. The Trustee contends that the Respondents are in contempt of the Settlement Order because they opposed and continue to oppose the Trustee's efforts in the Superior Court to substitute himself as sole plaintiff in the civil action and to dismiss the action.
The Court must deny the motion because the Settlement Order did not order the Respondents to do anything or to refrain from doing anything. Contempt requires an act that violates an order. Insofar as the Settlement Order did not enjoin them to act in any way, their actions, however otherwise wrongful and violative of rights of the bankruptcy estate, cannot constitute a contempt of the Settlement Order. Therefore, a separate order will enter denying the contempt motion.