Gallaher v. Breaux

The trial court lacked authority to continue the defendant's incarceration for his failure to pay back child support, after the defendant presented evidence clearly establishing that he lacked the ability to purge himself.

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Richard Sean Gallaher appeals from the trial court’s orders directing him to pay $24,709.96 in back child support, finding him in willful civil contempt, sentencing him to incarceration and later placing him into a work release program, where his earnings were withheld in payment of child support arrearages. We reverse. This matter began as a complaint for Domestication of a Foreign Judgment filed by Gallaher’s ex-wife, Mary Terese Breaux, on January 11, 2006. Breaux subsequently moved for contempt on the ground that Gallaher had failed to pay court-ordered child support for the couple’s two children. Breaux testified that Gallaher was ordered to pay $850 per month in child support and that he owed $24,709.96 in back payments. Gallaher, who represented himself at the motion hearing, testified on cross-examination that he was currently employed at a sandwich shop and was paid $200 per week. He stated that he had made payments of $100 per month toward restitution ordered by a Florida federal court, arising out of an earlier child support dispute. He admitted that he had not paid the monthly $850 child support payments since December 2003.1 Gallaher also stated that he had a lawsuit pending against the United States government for, inter alia, back wages and had turned down the government’s offer of $120,000 plus a government job with an annual salary of $60,000. Gallaher presented no evidence on his own behalf.

The trial court granted Breaux’s motion, finding that Gallaher owed $24,709.96 in back child support and had the present ability to pay. The court determined that Gallaher’s non-payment of the child support was willful and deliberate, and the judge ordered Gallaher incarcerated until he paid the back child support.

Gallaher v. Breaux

The trial court lacked authority to continue the defendant's incarceration for his failure to pay back child support, after the defendant presented evidence clearly establishing that he lacked the ability to purge himself.

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