Appealability, Sanctions: Attorney, Although Not Appealing In Appeal By Client, Has Standing To Proceed Unless Prejudice To Opposing Party

California Supreme Court Indicate Prejudice, Not Per Se, Analysis Is Applicable.

            As indicated in our Year-End 2019 cases relevant to this blog, the only pending case on sanctions issue was still pending for decision.  Well, it is in.

            In K.J. v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist., Case No. S241057 (Cal. Supreme Ct., Jan. 30, 2020), the California Supreme Court decided that a sanctions motion against an attorney, although only appealed by the client, was proper where the circumstances showed that the attorney’s interests were at stake and no prejudice attended to the other side.  Again, prejudice—a key focal concern in any appeal—was front and center in the determinative ruling by our state supreme court.