Smeal Fire Apparatus Co. v. Kreikemeier

NATURE OF CASE

This is a procedurally complicated civil contempt case, in which the Nebraska Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal with respect to the district court’s finding of contempt, but nonetheless affirmed the allowance of $73,500 in attorney fees and costs. For reasons that will be explained more fully below, we conclude that the district court lacked jurisdiction to order equitable relief as a condition to purging its finding of contempt and that the remaining condition of the purge plan was not accompanied by a threatened sanction and was not reviewable on appeal. For those reasons,…