Frederick J. Sternberg, for plaintiff-appellee. John W. Lunsford, for defendant-appellant . Plaintiff and defendant were divorced by judgment dated 10 June 1996. On 22 September 1997, Judge E. J. Harviel entered an equitable distribution judgment, and defendant assigns and argues three errors from the judgment. We affirm the trial court's judgment.
Defendant first assigns error to the trial court's order of attorney fees to the plaintiff.
Plaintiff moved for sanctions under N.C. Gen. Stat. By order dated 24 March 1997, Judge Spencer Ennis awarded plaintiff attorney fees pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. The willful obstruction or unreasonable delay of the proceedings is or would be prejudicial to the interests of the opposing party. . . . . The sanction may include an order to pay the other party the amount of the reasonable expenses and damages incurred because of the . . . In the equitable distribution judgment, Judge Harviel found as a fact that plaintiff was entitled to partial attorney's fees as a sanction for willful delay or attempted delay that prejudiced her.