Hernandez

This is a consolidated appeal of matters that arose in the course of a class action in the Marin County Superior Court case, Perry v. Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc., case No. CV053770 (Perry).

After the trial court conditionally certified the class for settlement purposes, appellant Jeffrey Spencer, attorney for appellant Lisa Hernandez, a plaintiff in Perry, sent a letter to various class members urging them to opt out of the settlement, and to retain him as counsel against Vitamin Shoppe Industries Inc. in another class action involving the same matters. The court subsequently issued orders and rulings regarding these communications, barring Spencer from certain future communications, and granting monetary sanctions against him, which appellants Hernandez and Spencer challenge on appeal. In the published portion of this opinion, we affirm these rulings and orders, except that we reverse the trial court’s imposition of monetary sanctions against Spencer.

In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we consider the arguments of appellant Andrew Shatz, the sole objector to the settlement, who contends that the trial court acted improperly in the course of supervising the…