$10K in Appellate Sanctions Imposed

In the unpub'd Rouzbahan v. Fregoso today, 2/7 imposes $10K in sanctions on appellants' counsel for pursuing a frivolous appeal and filing a misleading brief. Appellants' counsel took nearly a year to file the opening brief (from the filing of the notice of appeal), got the standard of review wrong, made a substantial evidence argument that was "unquestionably without merit," and further did not provide a full RT of the trial, "thereby frustrating any meaningful review of the evidence" -- all items inching towards sanctions. But what seems to have pushed this over the edge was how the brief presented a "misleading description of the record" and then "falsely asserted" that there was no evidence of a certain point when plainly there was. Respondent had moved for $27K in sanctions, but only $10K was awarded, based in part on the "difficulty" -- really, the lack thereof -- "of the issue presented on appeal."

No connection to the case whatsoever;
but if you're a baseball fan (and many SoCal Appellate Lawyers are),
be sure to visit this exhibit now in SoCal!

Also issued today: