Manhan v. Gallagher

Filed 3/26/21 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

JONATHAN MANHAN et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, A158152 v. SHANNON GALLAGHER, (City & County of San Francisco Super. Ct. No. CGC18563734) Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiffs Jonathan and Jordan Manhan appeal from an order of the trial court setting aside discovery sanctions they obtained against defendant Shannon Gallagher. Plaintiffs argue that because they filed a voluntary dismissal, the court lacked jurisdiction to reconsider and set aside the prior sanctions orders. We affirm the order. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND This case arises from a landlord-tenant dispute regarding a residential lease. Plaintiffs filed suit against defendant alleging causes of action for breach of contract and bad faith retention of a security deposit on the ground that defendant wrongly withheld about $4,800 from their security deposit. During the litigation, plaintiffs filed motions to compel further responses to requests for admission and form interrogatories and requested sanctions. With regard to their motion to compel further responses to their request for admissions, plaintiffs sought $3,060 in monetary sanctions pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 2023.030, subdivision (a), and 2033.290,

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subdivision (d).1 With regard to their motion to compel further responses to their form interrogatories, plaintiffs requested $3,360 in monetary sanctions pursuant to sections 2023.030, subdivision (a), and 2030.300, subdivision (d). Plaintiffs claimed these amounts constituted the reasonable value for the time their attorney spent bringing the motions plus filing fees. The requests for sanctions were supported by declarations from plaintiffs’ counsel— associate attorney Matthew G. Whitten of the firm Brown, White and Osborn, located in Los Angeles—filed under penalty of perjury, stating that his billing rate in this particular matter was $300 per hour. Minute orders for March 4, 2019 indicate the trial court granted both motions to compel and awarded the requested sanctions. Written orders granting the sanctions against defendant and ordering her to pay plaintiffs were filed on March 20, 2019. On April 15, 2019, plaintiffs filed a request for dismissal of the entire action without prejudice. On the same day, defendant filed a motion for reconsideration or to set aside the aforementioned sanctions orders. In her motion, defendant acknowledged that plaintiffs had moved to dismiss their lawsuit. She explained the basis for her motion for reconsideration under section 1008 as follows: on March 20, 2019, she learned from a declaration filed by plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Thomas Brown, that counsel was representing plaintiffs “pro bono” and that plaintiffs incurred no legal fees in connection with their suit. This was at odds with attorney Whitten’s representation in support of the motions for sanctions that his billing rate in this matter was $300 per hour. Alternatively, defendant asked the court to set aside the sanctions orders pursuant to section 473’s provision for