Opinion ID: 2331585
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 45

Heading: Costs Associated with Valentine's Common Law Wife Claim

Text: The estate also claims the court should have awarded sanctions because Valentine did not have a good faith basis in bringing her common law spouse claim. According to the estate, Valentine lacked this basis because she could not establish the facts necessary to prove her claim. The claim was advanced by Valentine's recently retained replacement attorney who did not have a transcript of the much earlier deposition of Valentine in which she gave testimony that undercut her common law spouse claim. Predecessor counsel had not had the deposition transcribed. Replacement counsel relied on information given him by Valentine in constructing the common law spouse claim. It is not sanctionable behavior for an attorney to file a complaint based solely on the oral representation of his client without the benefit of independent corroboration. Gray v. Washington, 612 A.2d 839 (D.C. 1992). We are not persuaded that the trial court committed clear error when it did not find bad faith on Valentine's part and conclude that it did not abuse its discretion by refusing to sanction Valentine for bringing this particular claim.