This case is the latest in a series of appeals resulting from years of litigation between Gerry Smith and George Reece, who own adjacent parcels of property in Rabun County.1 The trial court found the parties in criminal contempt of court for violating its prior orders; the court sentenced them to 20 days in jail and fined them $500 each. In addition, the court ordered Smith to pay Reece $5,000 in damages for intentionally cutting down a tree on property that the court had ordered Smith to convey to Reece. Both parties appeal from the court’s ruling. For the following reasons, we affirm the court’s order in part and reverse in part. Under OCGA § 15-6-8 5, the superior court has the power to punish criminal2 contempt by ordering the contemnor to pay fines not exceeding $500 and to serve no more than 20 days in jail. These penalties are applicable to each separate act of contempt found by the trial court. Gay v. Gay , 268 Ga. 106 1 485 SE2d 187 1997; In re Pruitt , 249 Ga. 190, 193 288 SE2d 208 1982. “The appellate standard of review of a criminal contempt conviction is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. In order to find contempt, there needs to be a showing of wilful disregard or disobedience of the order or command of the court.” Citations omitted. Lee v. Environmental Pest &c. Control , 243 Ga. App. 263, 264 2 533 SE2d 116 2000.
The undisputed facts of this case are as follows. Between May 2003 and May 2005, the parties repeatedly petitioned the Superior Court of Rabun County to intervene in a dispute over their property lines. During this time, the court entered a temporary restraining order, an interlocutory injunction, and a permanent injunction , as well as orders finding one or both of the parties in contempt for violating these orders. In May 2005, the parties entered into a settlement agreement in which they agreed to get an accurate survey of the disputed property and, based upon such survey, to formally convey portions of their property to the other party in settlement of the long-running dispute. Among the agreement’s provisions, the parties specifically agreed that certain property adjacent to a pond would belong to Reece and that this property included a tall hemlock tree. The court entered a final order on May 31, 2005, which incorporated the settlement agreement and ordered the parties to “comply with the settlement agreement in every respect and take such other action as is necessary to carry out the settlement agreement.”
