Appellate Court Found No Abuse of Discretion, With Failure to Provide Transcript of Fee Motion Sealing Amount of the Award.
In Marriage of Nair, Case No. C059661 (3d Dist. Dec. 29, 2009) (unpublished), the Third District found that the family law court did not abuse its discretion by awarding attorney’s fees of $75,000 to wife and against husband under Family Code section 271. This provision is in the nature of sanctions, attempting to curtail efforts that prolong litigation and thwart resolution in the family law area of practice. According to the appellate court, the record showed that father attempted to thwart reunification efforts between the older son and mother, father countenanced his son’s obstinate behavior, father resisted prior rulings where the court "preimposed" sanctions in the event father was noncompliant, and father filed an unsubstantiated claim of sexual abuse and harassment by the boys’ maternal grandfather. As to his challenge to the amount (claiming that he could not pay), father waived this argument by failing to supply a reporter’s transcript of hearings—with the appellate court presuming that the unreported trial testimony would demonstrate the absence of error. (In re Estate of Fain, 75 Cal.App.4th 973, 992 (1999).)