Nutrition Distribution, LLC v. S. Sarms, Inc.

*120 Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5 1 authorizes a trial court to award sanctions for bad faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause delay. Pursuant to former subdivision (f) of section 128.5, effective from January 1, 2015 until amended by urgency legislation enacted August 7, 2017 (former subdivision (f)), any such sanctions had to be imposed "consistently with the standards, conditions, and procedures set forth in subdivisions (c),(d), and (h) of Section 128.7."

Ruling that former subdivision (f) incorporated the 21-day safe harbor notice-and-waiting period of section 128.7, subdivision (c)(1), the trial court denied Southern SARMs Inc.'s postjudgment motion for sanctions against Nutrition Distribution, LLC because Southern SARMs had failed to give Nutrition Distribution the required notice. We affirm. As reflected in the plain language and legislative history of former subdivision (f), and confirmed by the August 2017 amendments to that provision, a 21-day waiting period applies to a motion for sanctions under section 128.5 that, as here, is directed to allegedly improper actions or tactics that can be withdrawn or appropriately…