Two Separate Sanctions Below $5,000 Cannot Be Aggregated For Appealability Purposes.
In Mitchell Anthony Productions, LLC v. Baron, Case No. B282974 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Mar. 28, 2018) (unpublished), the trial judge awarded $4,860 in discovery sanctions on separate motions to compel further discovery responses to the interrogatories and requests for production. The sanctioned party appealed because the total sanctions came to $9,720, claiming that the $5,000 jurisdictional threshold for an appeal of monetary sanctions over $5,000 was met. (CCP § 904.1(a)(11), (a)(12).)
The appellate court dismissed the appeal. The reason? A party cannot aggregate monetary sanctions for purposes of appealability purposes, fully endorsing the reasoning to the same effect in Calhoun v. Vallejo City Unified School Dist., 20 Cal.App.4th 39, 44-45 (1993) [1st Dist., Div. 5]), but indicating this did not foreclose an extraordinary writ petition if a true wrong was done through a sanctions order below.