Ex Parte Purvis
Supreme Court of Alabama
382 So. 2d 512 (1980)
The Jefferson County Circuit Court issued a temporary restraining order barring James Purvis (defendant) and fellow union members from continuing to strike and picket against the Water Works Board of the City of Birmingham (plaintiff), after the strike had already caused violence and threatened to shut down the city's water system. Purvis violated the order and was imprisoned for criminal contempt; he then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus arguing the underlying order was unconstitutional.
Whether a party who violates a court order without first seeking to have it dissolved or modified may later challenge the order's constitutional validity through a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.