Courts: frivolous actions or proceedings.

Existing law authorizes a trial court to order a party, the party's attorney, or both to pay reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay, if the actions or tactics arise from a complaint filed, or a proceeding initiated, on or before December 31, 1994. In addition to the reasonable expenses award, existing law authorizes the court to assess punitive damages against the plaintiff on a determination that the plaintiff's action was maintained by a person convicted of a felony against the person's victim for injuries arising from the acts for which the person was convicted, and that the plaintiff is guilty of fraud, oppression, or malice in maintaining the action. Existing law also requires every pleading, petition, written notice of motion, or other similar paper to be signed by the attorney of record or an unrepresented party, as applicable, thereby certifying to the best of the person's knowledge, information, and belief that, among other things, the paper is not being presented primarily for an improper purpose, as specified, and that the claims, defenses, and legal and factual contentions are warranted, as specified. Existing law authorizes a trial court to impose sanctions upon an attorney, law firm, or party that violates these provisions in a complaint, petition, or other paper filed on or after January 1, 1995. This bill would delete the December 31, 1994, date limitation on a trial court's authorization to award reasonable expenses incurred as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay, thus making both of the provisions described above applicable commencing January 1, 2015. The bill would include in the definition of "actions or tactics" the filing and serving of an answer or other responsive pleading, and would exclude from that definition disclosures and discovery requests, responses, objections, and motions. The bill would require a party filing a motion pursuant to these provisions to promptly transmit to the California Research Bureau a copy of the endorsed, filed caption page of the motion or opposition, a copy of any related notice of appeal or petition for a writ, and a conformed copy of any resulting order. The bill would also require the party to indicate whether a motion for sanctions was made for a violation of the certification provisions described above. The bill would require that the bureau maintain a public record of these documents for at least 3 years, except as specified. The bill would require certain standards, conditions, and procedures to apply to sanctions imposed pursuant to its provisions. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018. The bill would also require the California Research Bureau, on or before January 1, 2017, to submit a report to the Legislature examining the impact and effect of the changes made by the bill.