You may remember the McMorrough case, in which the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals changed the law on the standard of proof in contempt cases without admitting it was doing so. Now the Alabama Supreme Court has denied the writ of certiorari, effectively leaving litigants and their lawyers in the dark about what the new standard is. The Court denied the writ without opinion in Ex parte McMorrough, Case No. 1041848 (Ala. November 18, 2005). The only reason to check the case would be to read the dissent from Justice Parker, joined by Justices Nabers, See, and Woodall. It reiterates many of the points Judge Crawley made in his dissent in the Appeals Court case.
Actually, Justice Parker’s strong dissenting opinion was NOT joined by any of the other dissenting justices. The reason for this is not clear, as the other dissenters also chose not to write separately.
Hmm. Thanks for the clarification!