Continuing Jurisdiction And Waiver Principles Justified Sanctions Order.
Old Jail Whipping Post. St. Augustine, Florida. John Margolies, photographer. Library of Congress.
Windsor Mango Way LLC v. Taylor, Case No. B268967 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Sept. 28, 2017) (unpublished) is a case where an attorney was sanctioned under CCP § 128.7 for conduct relating to a case which had been ordered to arbitration. Attorney challenged the order primarily on the theory that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to issue sanctions given the case had been ordered to arbitration.
Not so, said the Court of Appeal in affirming the sanctions order. Two reasons sealed this conclusion. First, because the sanctions ordered related to activities after a motion to compel was granted, the trial court had “vestigial jurisdiction” to order sanctions and an erroneous order did not give rise to CCP § 473 relief. Second, waiver principles precluded attorney’s efforts to vacate the sanctions order because attorney himself invoked the jurisdiction of the trial court when he moved for sanctions against the other party on his client’s own behalf.