Doctrine of Contribution

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Remy Jonathan Bozant v. Hang M. Nguyen located here.  One of the issues was when does a party have to reimburse the other party.  The Court made the following analysis which is interesting on the issue.

"¶12. In Celotex Corp. v. Campbell Roofing & Metal Works Inc, 352 So. 2d 1316, 1318

(Miss. 1977), the supreme court held:

The doctrine of contribution requires that persons having a common liability, such as the joint and several judgment against Campbell and Celotex, bear their individual share of the burden imposed and not have any one of them carry the full load.  The general rule of common law is that the one who is compelled to satisfy, or pay more than his just share of such common burden or obligation, is entitled to contribution from the others to obtain from them payment of their respective shares.

(Emphasis added).  The chancery court held Remy in contempt for his failure to pay to the

IRS his 25% of the total tax liability for 2013 and 2014 and ordered him to pay his 25%

amount owed directly to Kat, despite the fact that she had not yet paid that portion to the IRS.

Although Kat is making payments to the IRS to satisfy the couple’s previous tax liabilities

for 2013 and 2014, she has not yet carried “the full load” of the obligation.  To order Remy

to pay Kat his entire 25% portion of tax debt for 2013 and 2014 would hold Remy in

contempt for nonpayment for a debt that Kat has not paid.  Kat may make such payments on

his behalf at some point in the future, but that had not yet happened at the time of the

contempt order.  A person cannot be held in contempt by a court for some future violation

of a court order that has not yet happened, regardless of the likelihood of such future

violation.  “The primary purpose of a civil-contempt order is to enforce compliance with a

court order.” Chism v. Chism, 285 So. 3d 656, 666 (¶35) (Miss. Ct. App. 2019) (citing

Stallings v. Allen, 201 So. 3d 500, 504 (¶14) (Miss. Ct. App. 2016)), cert. denied, 284 So.

3d 753 (Miss. 2019).  If Remy paid the IRS his 25% share during the time Kat was paying

the portion she owed, then he would not owe Kat anything, and Kat would have paid nothing

extra than what she owed.  If, on the other hand, Remy did not pay the debt he owed to the

IRS and Kat had paid her portion and then his portion, then Kat would certainly have a right

to seek payment for the 25% he failed to pay and that she was forced to pay.  While it is true

Kat entered into an agreement with the IRS to pay the entire debt, she is responsible for 75%

of that debt and was still paying her share of the debt when she filed her contempt petition.

The chancery court’s contempt order anticipated Remy’s failure to comply with the PSA as

to the years 2013 and 2014, and the court may very well be correct at some point in the

future.  But until such time as Kat has been required to actually pay the portion of the debt

Remy owes, she cannot seek contribution.  When she has been forced to pay Remy’s debt or

to “carry the full load” of the couple’s joint debt, then she can seek contempt for Remy’s

failure to pay.  We reverse and remand that part of the judgment holding Remy in contempt

for his 25% portion of the 2013 and 2014 taxes because Kat had not yet paid that amount to

the IRS at the time of the contempt order.  Remy cannot be in violation of the PSA for his

failure to pay when he had not yet failed to pay."

The general idea is that you cannot be in contempt for not paying an item that is not even due yet.