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RCW 7.21.010

Definitions.

Applied in 78 court decisions — leading case State v. Chapman (2000)

Most recently applied in State Of Washington, V. Shymila Nicole Luvert (November 2021)

1989 c 373 s 1.

How often courts cite this section

199120002010202190
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter:

(1) "Contempt of court" means intentional:

(a) Disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent behavior toward the judge while holding the court, tending to impair its authority, or to interrupt the due course of a trial or other judicial proceedings;

(b) Disobedience of any lawful judgment, decree, order, or process of the court;

(c) Refusal as a witness to appear, be sworn, or, without lawful authority, to answer a question; or

(d) Refusal, without lawful authority, to produce a record, document, or other object.

(2) "Punitive sanction" means a sanction imposed to punish a past contempt of court for the purpose of upholding the authority of the court.

(3) "Remedial sanction" means a sanction imposed for the purpose of coercing performance when the contempt consists of the omission or refusal to perform an act that is yet in the person's power to perform.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.