Earle A. Partington v. Joseph M. Gedan Howard T. Chang

In part of our opinion in Partington v. Gedan, 880 F.2d 116 (9th Cir.1989) (Part-ington I), we imposed sanctions on Gedan and Chang. We did so based upon three prior cases which held that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 11, were incorporated into our Circuit Rules. 9th Cir.R. 1-1 (old Rule 5). See In re Mooney, 841 F.2d 1003, 1005 (9th Cir.1988); Rockwell International Credit Corp. v. United States Aircraft Insurance Group, 823 F.2d 302, 304-05 (9th Cir.1987); In re Curl, 803 F.2d 1004, 1007 (9th Cir.1986). We therefore imposed sanctions on Gedan and Chang pursuant to Rule 11 as, in effect, part of our Circuit Rules. See Part-ington I, 880 F.2d at 130 & n. 8.

The Supreme Court vacated Partington I, and remanded for further consideration in light of Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 2447 , 110 L.Ed.2d 359 (1990) (Cooter & Gell). See Gedan v. Partington, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 3265 , 111 L.Ed.2d 776 (1990). On remand, we reaffirmed and adopted our earlier opinion. Partington v. Gedan, 914 F.2d 1349, 1350 (9th Cir.1990) (Partington II). We first acknowledged the Cooter & Gell holding that Rule 11 does not apply to appellate proceedings. Id. at…