Appellate Court Gives Us Updated Figures on Costs for Processing Appeal That Goes to Opinion.
This one will be of interest to general readers and appellate practitioners, a diverse audience but one that should pay attention nonetheless.
In Marriage of Peng and Hsieh, Case No. B221318 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 12, 2011) (unpublished), appellant was hit with appellate sanctions payable to the court clerk for bringing a frivolous appeal. Although this sanction payable to the government is a proper sanction for a frivolous appeal (Pollock v. University of Southern California, 112 Cal.App.4th 1416, 1433 (2003); accord, Pierotti v. Torian, 81 Cal.App.4th 17, 35 (2000) [because frivolous appeal harms the court, not just the respondent, additional award of sanctions payable directly to the court clerk to compensate the state for the cost of processing such appeals is appropriate]), the opinion is helpful in giving an update on the sanctions amount that is appropriate.
Here is how it stacks up.
“A number of Court of Appeal decisions have adopted figures of $5,900 to $6,000 as a conservative estimate of the costs of processing an average appeal, basing those
figures on a calculation made in 1992. (See, e.g., Pollock v. University of Southern California, supra, 112 Cal.App.4th at 1434; Pierotti, supra, 81 Cal.App.4th at 36; Cohen v. General Motors Corp., 2 Cal.App.4th 893, 897 (1992).) A current cost analysis undertaken by the clerk’s office for the Second Appellate District, using the same general methodology, indicates the cost of processing an appeal that results in an opinion by the court is approximately $ 8,500, while the cost for processing a case that is resolved without opinion (for example, by dismissal for lack of an appealable order) is approximately $1,750.” (In re Marriage of Gong & Kwong, 163 Cal.App.4th 510, 520 (2008.))
Not surprisingly, appellant in Marriage of Peng and Hsieh was hit with appellate sanctions of $8,500 payable to the court clerk and $15,000 payable to respondent for the frivolous appeal.