Body Attachments for Contempt of Court in Indiana, Some Welcome Changes

For years, Indiana has been a center for injustice regarding the issuance of body attachments for unpaid civil judgments.  A body attachment is basically an arrest. Technically, it is not for failure to pay the judgment, rather, it is for contempt of court for failing to attend a proceeding supplemental to judgment to give information to the plaintiff for purposes of collecting the judgment. That being said there are a number of legitimate reasons why a person might not attend a proceeding supplemental. The most common is they never know about the proceeding supplemental in the first place. Other reasons might be lack of child care, lack of transportation, inability to read and understand the legal pleadings, illness or general incompetence. 

Both federal and state law prohibits imprisonment for debt. Section 22 of the Indiana Constitution provides as follows:

Section 22. Debts--Imprisonment exemption

Section 22. The privilege of the debtor to enjoy the necessary comforts of life, shall be recognized by wholesome laws, exempting a reasonable amount of property from seizure or sale, for the payment of any debt or liability hereafter contracted: and there shall be no imprisonment for debt, except in case of fraud.

For at least as long as I've been an attorney, 33 years and counting, courts have issued body attachments in the form of a bench warrant, an arrest warrant. . It has worked differently in different counties, but if a law enforcement officer seizes the person, the law enforcement officer is supposed to take the person to the court, for questioning about why the person did not attend the proceeding supplemental.  On many occasions the person was seized and the court was not in session, so the person had to stay in jail over a weekend, sometimes an extended holiday weekend. 

In recent years there has been some attention in the press to the issue of poor people spending time in jail because they can't pay civil judgments, and it looks like it is finally starting to pay dividends in court rules. Today I was reading Delaware County's local rules in preparation for a case, and I found out that they recently adopted rules greatly reducing the power to issue a bench warrant on a civil judgment.  Essentially the defendant has to prove actual notice and if the warrant is issued, it must be done during court hours and the defendant is taken directly to the court. 

If you are subjected to a body attachment relating to a civil judgment in Indiana, we will talk to you and look into your claim at no charge.  Often plaintiffs and their attorneys make mistakes in the process, and these mistakes could give you the opportunity to collect damages in a lawsuit.  Please call us at 317-662-4529 if you have any questions.