Spahl v. Santiago CA2/2

California Court of Appeal May 9, 2013 No. B236369Unpublished

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Holding. The court affirmed the trial court's imposition of sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7 and the dismissal of the plaintiffs' action with prejudice, finding no abuse of discretion where the claims were barred by a prior settlement agreement. The court further held that the inclusion of a dismissal request within a sanctions motion did not constitute a fatal procedural defect under section 128.7.

Issues

Whether the trial court abused its discretion in imposing sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7.
Whether a motion for sanctions under section 128.7 is procedurally defective if it includes a request for dismissal.
Whether the trial court had inherent authority to dismiss the action with prejudice.

Disposition. Affirmed.

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“There is substantial evidence to support the finding that plaintiffs violated section 128.7, subdivision (b).”

“Defendants’ inclusion of a request for dismissal in their motion for sanctions under section 128.7 does not preclude us from affirming the sanctions award.”

“Independent of specific statutory grounds for dismissal, trial courts have an underlying inherent discretionary power to dismiss actions and claims.”

Filed 5/9/13 Spahl v. Santiago CA2/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

STEVEN SPAHL et al., B236369

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. LC092701) v.

ARTEMIO SANTIAGO et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Michael A. Latin, Judge. Affirmed.

Sandor Carrasco and Sandor Kenneth Carrasco for Plaintiffs and Appellants.

Law Offices of Santiago Rodnunsky & Jones, David G. Jones and Tamera S. Fong for Defendants and Respondents.

Plaintiffs and appellants Steven Spahl and Donny Spahl (collectively, plaintiffs) appeal the dismissal of their action against defendants and respondents Artemio Santiago (Santiago) and Santiago, Rodnunsky & Jones (SRJ)1 after the trial court granted defendants’ motion for sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7.2 Plaintiffs also appeal the trial court’s order imposing $5,515 in sanctions against them. We affirm the sanctions order and the order dismissing plaintiffs’ action with prejudice. BACKGROUND The parties’ November 2009 settlement agreement Defendant Santiago and his law firm, SRJ, represented plaintiffs for approximately four years in trust litigation involving the Franz Spahl Inter Vivos Trust, Los Angeles Superior Court case No. GP011784 (the trust litigation). Plaintiffs terminated SRJ’s representation and retained new counsel on April 15, 2009. At the time plaintiffs terminated SRJ’s representation, they owed SRJ a significant amount of unpaid attorney fees, and SRJ filed an arbitration claim seeking payment of those fees. The parties eventually settled their dispute and entered into a written settlement agreement on November 10, 2009. The settlement agreement included a mutual general release, a release of unknown claims under Civil Code section 1542, and an express waiver of all rights to bring suit against each other as a result of any claims for actions, omissions, errors, or other acts predating the settlement agreement. Plaintiffs were represented by counsel in connection with the settlement, and counsel executed the settlement agreement as to form. Defendants thereafter dismissed their arbitration claims. The instant action On February 14, 2011, plaintiffs filed the instant action against defendants for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, intentional and constructive fraud, breach of

Spahl v. Santiago CA2/2

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