Trial Court Had Ensured Against Financial Burden On Husband By Ordering Payment Of The Sanctions Through $200 Monthly Increments, And Its Statement Of Decision Made Clear That The Trial Court Had Considered The Behavior Of Both Parties.
Family Code section 271(a) – the purpose of which is to promote settlement and encourage cooperation – authorizes a trial court to “base an award of attorney’s fees and costs on the extent to which the conduct of each party or attorney furthers or frustrates the policy of the law to promote settlement of litigation and, where possible, to reduce the cost of litigation by encouraging cooperation between the parties and attorneys.” These attorneys’ fees and costs are imposed as a sanction under the broad discretion afforded the trial court.
In Marriage of Bonner, Case No. D078148 (4th Dist., Div. 1 April 22, 2022) (unpublished), husband appealed the $37,500 attorney fees award issued against him as a § 271 sanction, as well as the trial court’s ruling on his own dueling request for § 271 sanctions against wife.
Husband’s attempt to relitigate on appeal the issue of whether his conduct warranted sanctions, his claim that some of the $73,000 in attorney fees wife claimed to have incurred were unnecessary, and his claim that the sanctions order placed an unreasonable financial burden on him all proved unsuccessful. Determination as to husband’s conduct fell within the trial court’s broad discretion and was not subject to reversal absent a showing that the trial court exceeded the bounds of reason. (In re Marriage of Rosevear, 65 Cal.App.4th 673, 682 (1998).) Additionally, section 271 does not limit the trial court’s sanctions award by the type of attorney fees incurred by the other party (In re Marriage of Corona, 172 Cal.App.4th 1205, 1226 (2009)), and the trial court awarded wife considerably less than the $73,000 she claimed. Finally, there was no merit to husband’s financial burden claim as the trial court ensured against such burden by ordering the sanctions to be paid in monthly increments of $250.
The trial court declined to issue $12,000 in section 271 sanctions against wife, but, based on wife’s conduct, did reduce by $7,500 the sanctions amount it would have otherwise awarded wife. Husband argued he was entitled to a higher amount, but the trial court’s Statement of Decision made clear that the trial court had considered the behavior of both parties. Additionally, husband failed to demonstrate the reasonableness of the attorney fees he sought, and was not entitled to costs – such as travel costs – incurred during the litigation for which he was mostly self-represented. A self-represented litigant attorney is not entitled to fees recovery under § 271 because sanctions must be tethered to attorney fees and costs (In re Marriage of Erndt and Terhorst, 59 Cal.App.5th 898, 904 (2021) [discussed in our January 13, 2021 post), and a party’s travel costs are not attorney fees or costs that may be awarded under § 271 (Menezes v. McDaniel, 44 Cal.App.5th 340, 351 (2019) [discussed in our January 16, 2020 post].
The 4/1 DCA did remand for recalculation, however, as the trial court had reduced the $37,500 sanctions award by $19,016.30 to account for an equalization payment the trial court determined wife owed to husband, but the record did not support the $19,016.30 calculation.