Lower Court Denial Based on Rescheduled Hearing Date Was No Reason to Deny.
In Whitehill v. Valente, Case No. A137613 (1st Dist., Div. 1 June 18, 2014) (unpublished), a litigant was denied CCP § 128.7 sanctions for not satisfying the 21 day “safe harbor” period for the opposing side to withdraw a pleading/comply with the sanctions provision. The fact were that the requesting litigant filed a notice of motion on 2/29/12 with a specified hearing date of 5/2/12, but later filing the actual motion with the court on 4/2/12–containing a different hearing date of 7/3/12. The lower court apparently found this confusion compromised the safe harbor period, but the appellate court saw things differently.
The original hearing date, although rescheduled in the later filed motion, certainly gave the opposing litigant 21 days to comply, as well as if one factored in the time from the prior notice of motion. Because the opponent had 21 days, the sanctions denial on this technical basis had to be reversed.