Santa Ana : Judges Assess Fines for Frivolous Appeals
State appellate justices, adding another case to a growing list of appeals they find wasteful and frivolous, imposed a $1,500 fine against a lawyer and two litigants Tuesday.
“This case has risen from the dead more often than Lazarus, and our patience has finally begin exhausted,” said the 4th District Court of Appeal opinion written by Thomas F. Crosby Jr.
The appeal involves a $20,000 judgment against Don Baker and Darrell Tolsma, partners in a construction business, for nonpayment of premiums to an insurance broker.
The Santa Ana appellate court noted that lawyers for Baker and Tolsma, John K. Sauer and Richard A. Barr, failed to meet technical appeal requirements three times. Each time, the justices forgave the error and allowed the appeal to proceed.
Finally, in the opinion issued Tuesday, Crosby wrote that the claims in the appeal were without “the slightest merit.” The lawyers were fined a total of $500, and Baker and Tolsma were fined $500 each.
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