Everything that's Old Is New Again

San Diegans for Open Government v. City of San Diego, No. D068421 (D4d1 Jun. 7, 2016)

In 1994, the Legislature changed California’s general civil sanctions rules to make them look and work more like Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The 1994 amendments added Code of Civil Procedure § 128.7, which permits a court to sanction attorneys or parties for filing meritless pleadings that are “signed” by a party or its attorney. Like Rule 11, § 128.7(c)(1) includes a “safe harbor” requiring the service of a sanctions motion twenty-one days before filing and an opportunity to correct the sanctionable pleading before the motion can be heard. It also adopts an “objectively unreasonable” standard for sanctions—proof of bad faith or ill intent are unnecessary.