Justice Wiley, In Concurring, Shows Why This Is A Necessary Result Given Public Discontent About The Costs Of Modern Litigation.
I guess one could say that Marriage of Andrew and Rangell, Case No. B313786 (2d Dist., Div. 8 Sept. 28, 2023) (published) is simply an affirmance, primarily, of Family Code section 271 sanctions award against an ex-husband for disobeying court orders and breaching settlement agreement obligations. But it is more than that. The appellate court, in both majority and concurring opinions, sustained that a 271 fees award can contain a “continuing” penalty of $1,000 per day to obtain compliance with previous court orders. Justice Wiley, the concurring justice, found these future expenditures were justified, waxing eloquent about the public’s likely distain for substantial litigation expenses: “Our ruling is important, not only to litigants and trial courts, but also to the public at large, which has an abiding interest in effective judicial administration. The public rues the glacial pace and dismaying cost of litigation. When musing about suicide, Hamlet counts ‘the law’s delay’ among the ‘whips and scorns of time.’ Bleak House jeers at litigation that ‘so exhausts finances, patience, courage, hope, so overthrows the brain and breaks the heart’ that wise counsel is to ‘Suffer any wrong that can be done you rather than come here!’” There you have it, readers.
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