Trial Court Lacked Jurisdiction to Impose Discovery Sanctions.
In Ayala v. Gutierrez, Case No. B243006 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Sept. 3, 2013) (unpublished), defendants filed a motion for leave to file a cross-complaint and a motion to compel discovery (including a request for sanctions) against plaintiff. Before the motions were heard, plaintiff dismissed her action with prejudice. However, the lower court entertained the motions anyway, granting all of the motions and ordering plaintiff to pay defendants $760.50 in discovery sanctions.
Plaintiff’s appeal was treated as an extraordinary writ, and the writ was issued by the appellate court.
Reason? The trial court was without jurisdiction to award sanctions after plaintiff’s voluntary dismissal of the action. (Gogri v. Jack in the Box Inc., 166 Cal.App.4th 255, 261 (2008).) Here, there was no dispositive tentative ruling on the merits of plaintiff’s action. Although defendants tried to argue that the sanctions were awardable as in the SLAPP context (where a voluntary dismissal does not mean the trial court cannot in its discretion award fees and costs to the defense), the appellate court “[found] no similar authority for a postdismissal award of fees on a routine discovery motion.”