Collins

The summary judgment statute, Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, former subdivision (i) provided: [1] "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, [2] defendant…