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40. Should the court grant the entertainer's motion and impose sanctions on the firefighter?
In response to the firefighter's complaint, the entertainer filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The entertainer then served a motion for sanctions on the firefighter. Eighteen days after the entertainer's motion for sanctions, the firefighter withdrew his complaint. The entertainer then filed her motion for sanctions upon the firefighter with the court.
A firefighter sued an entertainer in federal court even though the firefighter knew that he lacked an evidentiary basis for a number of the allegations in the complaint against the entertainer.
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When the lawyer files a pleading, the lawyer thereby certifies that to the best of the lawyer's knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances:
the pleading is not presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation;the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions are warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for extending, modifying, or reversing existing law or for establishing new law;the factual contentions have evidentiary support, or if specifically so identified, will likely have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; ANDthe denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence, or if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on belief or a lack of information.The court has the power to impose sanctions limited to what is sufficient to deter repetition of such conduct against a party who presents a paper to the court in violation of the above requirements, either on the court's own initiative or on motion of the opposing party.
Under FRCP 11(c)(2), the party seeking sanctions must serve a separate motion on the other party, but may not file the motion if the challenged paper, claim, or defense is withdrawn or appropriately corrected within 21 days after the service (called the «safe harbor» period).
When appropriate, sanctions may be imposed against parties, attorneys, or law firms, and may consist of nonmonetary directives or monetary penalties including payment of expenses and attorneys' fees incurred because of the improper paper.
C is correct. The firefighter withdrew his complaint 18 days after being served with the motion for sanctions, which was within the 21-day window for correcting a pleading under Rule 11. Therefore, it was improper for the entertainer to file a motion with the court.
A is incorrect. It was improper for the entertainer to file a motion for sanctions with the court after 18 days, within the allotted 21-day window to fix the complaint. The firefighter timely withdrew his complaint after being served with the entertainer's motion for sanctions, so the entertainer should not have filed it with the court.
B is incorrect. This is an incorrect statement of the law. Parties have a duty to file pleadings and motions based on good faith. However, when a party makes a timely withdrawal of or corrects a bad-faith pleading after being served with a motion for sanctions, the opposing party may no longer move for Rule 11 sanctions.
D is incorrect. Pursuant to Rule 11, a party wishing to file a motion for sanctions must first serve the motion for sanctions on the opposing party, not the court. If the opposing party does not withdraw or correct the matter within 21 days, only then may the moving party file a motion for sanctions with the court.