California Court of Appeal

In a suit brought against a city by a nonprofit organization acting as a government 'watchdog' to ensure public agencies comply with all applicable laws aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in government, the trial court's order denying the city's motion for sanctions is reversed where: 1) the current version of Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5, which provides statutory authority for an award of sanctions, applies to any case pending as of its effective date; 2) a party filing a sanctions motion under section 128.5 does not need to comply with section 128.7(c)(1) (the safe harbor waiting period); and 3) the legal standard in evaluating a request for sanctions under section 128.5 is whether the challenged conduct was objectively unreasonable.

Appellate Information

• Published 2016/06/07

Judges

• McDONALD

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel