Another $56,311 In Appellate Sanctions Assessed, Some In Favor Of Opposite Side And Some To the Appellate Court Itself.
Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7 does allow sanctions for frivolous pleadings and other courses of conduct in litigation, including extension to sanctions during appellate proceedings. Bucur v. Ahmad, Case No. D068689 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Jan. 26, 2016) (published) illustrates the potency of such sanctions and also counsels practitioners to avoid doing whatever a client wants where lawyers are on thin (or no) ice.
In Bucur, the 4/1 DCA affirmed a 128.7 lower court sanctions award against both plaintiffs and their attorney in the sum of $16,648.75. The reviewing court rebuffed the suggestion that the filing of a first amended complaint after the expiration of the safe harbor period somehow immunized prior activity. However, it got worse.
Plaintiffs’ appeal was also deemed frivolous, such that sanctions were ordered paid to the defense for appellate work to the tune of $31,311 under section 128.7. But there is more. Given the costs to the legal and judicial system as a whole, another $25,000 was ordered paid to the court clerk to compensate taxpayers for the costs of working up and deciding the appeal. All of these awards were made jointly and severally against Plaintiff and their counsel, plus the opinion had to be reported to the State Bar. Ouch, ouch, ouch!