Family Law, Sanctions: Sixth District Affirms Trial Court’s Imposition Of $2,520 In Section 271 Sanctions Against Husband And Denial Of Husband’s Request For $100 Million In Sanctions Against Wife And Her Attorney

Husband’s Conclusory Assertions Of Trial Court Error With No Record On Appeal, No Supporting Argument Nor Legal Authority, And His Failure To Have Followed Statutory Procedure In The Lower Court Doomed His Appeal.

            In Marriage of Joe and Lee, Case No. H047392 (6^th Dist., January 7, 2022) (unpublished), the trial court awarded wife $2,520 in Family Code § 271 sanctions for attorney fees she incurred in defending against a set-aside motion brought by husband – finding husband’s set-aside motion was submitted without supporting factual or legal basis. Additionally, the trial court denied husband’s request for section 271 and Code Civ. Proc. § 128.5 sanctions against wife and her attorney due to husband’s failure to satisfy procedural prerequisites and to substantiate his claims.  Husband appealed, but the Sixth District affirmed.

            As to the § 271 sanctions awarded to wife, the panel found no abuse of discretion. Husband failed not only to provide meaningful argument or legal authority to support his claims of trial court error, but also failed to provide the panel with a record on appeal that would allow review of the chain of events underlying his claim of error by not including the set-aside motion nor the documentation for the underlying fees and costs order he sought to set aside. As the panel explained, “a conclusory assertion of error is inadequate to satisfy the appellant’s burden to establish prejudicial error warranting reversal and will not prevail on appeal.” (Jameson v. Desta, 5 Cal.5th 594, 608–609 (2018); Ewald v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, 13 Cal.App.5th 947, 948 (2017).)

            With regard to the $100 million husband sought in sanctions, plus another $5 million in punitive damages, against wife and her attorney for bad faith behaviors, perjury, forgery, and libeling and defaming husband, the appellate panel found the trial court’s decision was “amply” supported by the record. Husband’s sanctions request, embedded in a responsive declaration to wife’s motion for sanctions failed to comply with the “safe-harbor” Code Civ. Proc. § 128.7(c)(1) provision, and exhibits attached to his responsive declaration did not support his allegations.