First District, Division 3 Reiterates Requirement in Unpublished Decision.
In Harpel v. Spina, Case No. A123315 (1st Dist., Div. 3 Aug. 14, 2009) (unpublished), defendants requested and were awarded sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7 when defendants asked for them in a 128.7 motion that was joined for hearing with their demurrer and motion for judgment on the pleadings. This was a no-no. The First District, Division 3 reversed the $1,700 sanctions award. The reason? Sections 128.7(c)(1) requires that a sanctions motion “shall be made separately from other motions ….” The trial court cannot circumvent this strict procedural requirement (In re Marriage of Corona, 172 Cal.App.4th 1205, 1225 n. 7 (2009)), with it being improper to have the sanctions motion joined with the other motions for consideration. Make sure you make a separate motion and make sure you set it for a separate hearing apart from the hearing of the underlying predicate motions.