CONTEMPT - SUPPRESSION ORDER - PUBLICATION OF CONTENTS OF SUPPRESSED FILE

On a bill of complaint being filed in chancery court an injunction was issued against the defendant therein, and the papers in the cause were ordered suppressed by the chancellor, and to that end, sealed in an envelope. The bill alleged misrepresentation on the part of a leading banker in getting stockholders to contribute toward making up the defalcations of other officers in the bank and malfeasance of other officers. Defendant newspaper reporter obtained information relative to the allegations in the bill from sources other than the suppressed file and published the same nine months later. Upon citation for contempt, with a hearing before another judge, the publication was held to be contumacious and the reporter and publisher fined.

On appeal, held, the order could not extend beyond the secrecy ordered and that had not been violated. Nor could the court impose silence where the matter was obtained aliunde the court records. To sanction that would violate the constitutional guaranties of freedom of speech and of the press. In re Times Pub.

Co., 276 Mich. 349, 267 N. W. 858 (1936).