Goodstone

I. Introduction

Nikki Tolt and Sheryl Schrager, counsel for plaintiff, Geraldine Good-stone, appeal after the trial court ordered both attorneys, jointly and severally, to pay $34,727 in attorney fees to defendants Southwest Airlines Co., Burbank Air Service, Inc., and Industrial Electric Vehicles, formerly known as Nordskog Electric Vehicle (Nordco), as sanctions pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7 and local court rules promulgated under the authority of the Trial Court Delay Reduction Act of 1986. (Gov. Code, § 68600 et seq.) The sanctions were awarded after the trial court determined the attorneys, Ms. Tolt and Ms. Schrager, had engaged in “a calculated and concerted effort to violate both the spirit and the letter of delay reduction rules and to cause needless inconvenience, expense and harassment to the Defendants.” We conclude that although substantial evidence may support the conclusion that the conduct of Ms. Tolt and Ms. Schrager was frivolous and undertaken for improper purposes, the “safe harbor” provisions of section 128.7, subdivision (c)(1) preclude the imposition of sanctions under that provision of law. However, in the unpublished portion of…