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Collins v. State Department of Transportation12/24/2003
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
The summary judgment statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, former subdivision (i) provided: "If the court determines at any time that any of the affidavits are presented in bad faith or solely for purposes of delay, the court shall order the party presenting the affidavits to pay the other party the amount of the reasonable expenses which the filing of the affidavits caused the other party to incur. Sanctions shall not be imposed pursuant to this subdivision, except on notice contained in a party's papers, or on the court's own noticed motion, and after an opportunity to be heard." (Stats. 1994, ch. 493, § 1, pp. 2675-2676; italics added.)
With a minor change ("shall not" was changed to "may not"), this language appears in current subdivision (j) of section 437c. (Stats. 2002, ch. 448, § 5.)
The question in this case is whether this statutory language, which authorizes a court to award "reasonable expenses" as a sanction, allows a court to award, as a sanction, attorney's fees incurred by the party to whom sanctions will be paid. For reasons that follow, we conclude it does not.
In this personal injury action by plaintiff William F. Collins, defendant State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) appeals from a trial court order awarding sanctions for presenting a bad faith declaration in support of a summary judgment motion in violation of former subdivision (i) of section 437c. The sanctions award consisted entirely of attorney's fees incurred by plaintiff Collins. Caltrans argues it should not have been sanctioned as a matter of public policy, and that section 437c does not authorize an award of attorney's fees. Caltrans also argues there was no substantial evidence the declaration was presented in bad faith. Plaintiff requests sanctions on appeal.
We shall conclude section 437c does not authorize an award of attorney's fees as a sanction. We shall therefore reverse the order awarding sanctions, and we shall deny plaintiff's request for sanctions on appeal.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff brought this personal injury action against Caltrans and others, alleging he was injured when 15 year-old Joshua Daniels threw a chunk of broken concrete at plaintiff's semi-tractor-trailer as it was traveling on Interstate Highway 5 (I-5) over the Smith's Canal crossing in Stockton, California on December 4, 1997. The concrete penetrated the front windshield of the truck and struck plaintiff in the head.
As is pertinent here, the complaint alleged theories of premises liability and general negligence. Plaintiff alleged I-5 at the Smith's Canal crossing was in a dangerous condition because it provided pedestrians easy access to the traffic on I-5 and access to objects which pedestrians could throw at passing motorists and escape without detection.
Caltrans filed two summary judgment motions. The first motion argued, inter alia, that Caltrans had no actual or constructive notice of a dangerous condition. Caltrans submitted a declaration of a retired Caltrans engineer who attested, based upon his review of Caltrans's accident database (TASAS) and review of deposition testimony of a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer who searched CHP's database, that there had been no reports to the CHP of anyone throwing rocks at motorists from Smith's Canal and no reports of accidents involving rocks at that location for a period of approximately nine years.
In opposition to the first summary judgment motion, plaintiff adduced the deposition testimony of two CHP officers, who testified about prior reports of rock throwing in the general vicinity of the so
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