Zizlsperger et al v. Maxwell & Morgan PC

Filing 29

ORDER denying 14 Motion for Sanctions. (See document for further details). Signed by Judge Frederick J Martone on 1/17/12.(LAD)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Joseph and Judy Zizlsperger,
Plaintiffs,

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vs.

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Maxwell & Morgan, PC,
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Defendant.
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No. CV 11-01376-PHX-FJM
ORDER

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We have before us defendant's motion for sanctions (doc. 14), plaintiffs' response

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(doc. 17), defendant's reply (doc. 18), and defendant's notice of errata (doc. 21). Defendant

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requests sanctions pursuant to Rule 11(c), Fed. R. Civ. P., alleging that plaintiffs raised

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factual allegations in their complaint which they knew to be false.

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Rule 11 sanctions are to be reserved for "rare and exceptional" cases. Operating

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Engineers Pension Trust v. A-C Co., 859 F.2d 1336, 1344 (9th Cir. 1988). This case does

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not present the facts necessary for us to exercise the "extraordinary remedy" of Rule 11. Id.

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at 1345. For instance, a failure to plead sufficient facts is not a basis for sanctions under Rule

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11. Here, no facts were found supporting plaintiffs' contentions that defendant sent an order

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to Mr. Zizlsperger's employer to garnish an improper amount of his wages. It is possible that

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plaintiffs' counsel believed such facts could have been found, however. Cf. Truesdell v.

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Southern Cal. Permanente Med. Group, 293 F.3d 1146, 1153-54 (9th Cir. 2002) (finding

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plaintiff's counsel must have known allegations were false and sanctions were warranted).

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Defendant requested sufficient monetary sanctions "to deter similar conduct in the

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future, and to compensate Defendant for the fees, costs and resources it has been forced to

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incur in filing this Motion and responding to the baseless Complaint." (Doc. 14 at 6).

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Defendant previously filed a motion for attorneys' fees, seeking $17,677.50 (doc. 19). No

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memorandum in support was ever filed, though, and the motion did not include any

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breakdown of the fees. We have no way of knowing how much defendant incurred in filing

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the motion for sanctions and responding to the complaint, as compared to other tasks such

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as filing the motion for attorneys' fees.

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IT IS ORDERED DENYING defendant's motion for sanctions (doc. 14).
DATED this 17th day of January, 2012.

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