Opinion ID: 4093346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Vacant Lot Dispute

Text: In April 2002, shortly after the Sanais’ divorce decree was finalized, the accused’s mother filed a pro se appeal and notice of supersedeas without bond, effectively staying the then-pending sale of the vacant lot property. In June 2002, Washington Superior Court Judge Thibodeau ruled that that conduct had been intended solely to delay and frustrate the court’s rulings. He subsequently imposed a $10,000 sanction in attorney fees against mother, disqualified the accused’s brother from representing her, and ordered the posting of cash or commercial bonds to stay any future sale of the house, vacant lot, or personal property. Later that month, the accused made his first appearance as his mother’s legal counsel at a hearing in Snohomish County Superior Court. At that hearing, Judge Thibodeau ordered that the stay concerning the sale of the vacant lot be lifted by July 2002, absent the posting of a $50,000 bond. Instead of posting the required bond, however, the accused filed a lis pendens notice on the vacant lot, effectively clouding title to that property. In response, Judge Thibodeau issued three orders in September 2002. First, he disqualified the accused from representing his mother. Second, he (1) ordered the accused’s lis pendens notice stricken unless stayed by the Washington Court of Appeals; (2) barred the parties from filing any further lis pendens notices; and (3) barred any further action to delay the sale of the vacant lot. Finally, the judge imposed a $1,000 sanction against the accused’s mother, because the accused had brought, on her behalf, a frivolous motion for a protective order and sanctions. The accused then filed an appeal of those orders on mother’s behalf, although mother appeared to continue as a pro se litigant. Subsequently, defying the previous order prohibiting him from further representing his mother, the accused then filed at least seven accompanying motions to Cite as 360 Or 497 (2016) 503 either block the sale of the vacant lot or to challenge his disqualification from representation. All were denied by the Washington Court of Appeals, prompting the accused to file either a “reapplication,” a motion to reconsider, or a motion to modify in each case, all of which were similarly unavailing. Due in large part to those appeals, Judge Thibodeau imposed an additional $2,500 sanction against mother in December 2002, citing the “ ‘continuing appeals of every ruling of this court [that are] greatly prolonging the matter and costing substantial attorney fees.’ ” In re Sanai, 177 Wash 2d at 747 (internal citation omitted). Moreover, the judge opined, “[t]he continuing appeals border on the frivolous, and must stop for the benefit of both parties.’ ” Id. In November 2002, as those matters were develop- ing, a Washington Court of Appeals commissioner denied a motion filed by the accused to overturn the September 2002 order striking the previous lis pendens notices filed against the marital property. In February 2003, the Washington Court of Appeals denied the accused’s motion to modify that ruling and, shortly thereafter, Judge Thibodeau released the accused’s July 2002 lis pendens notice. The accused’s brother, however, filed a new lis pendens notice that same day, based on a federal action in the Western District of Washington—discussed in greater detail below—that he and the accused had initiated as plaintiffs in December 2002. When that action was transferred to United States District Court Judge Zilly—who was already presiding over another federal matter brought by the accused and others involving the Sanais’ divorce—Judge Zilly promptly ordered the release of the February lis pendens notice. Approximately three days later, the accused’s brother filed yet another, albeit amended, lis pendens notice, which Judge Zilly released as well in April 2003. Judge Zilly also ordered the parties “to cease and desist from any further action to delay or obstruct the sale of either [the house or the vacant lot] or filing any further lis pendens.” Id. at 748. In May 2003, the accused filed a new claim on his mother’s behalf, this time in King County Superior Court. In that action, mother sought partition of the same family property that had previously been adjudicated as part of the 504 In re Sanai Sanais’ divorce. Based on the new case that he had just initiated, the accused filed yet another lis pendens notice against the property, which he subsequently amended with a new notice in July 2003. That amended lis pendens notice did not escape the attention of the other state and federal entities addressing the Sanais’ litigation. In August 2003, Judge Thibodeau held the accused’s mother in contempt, imposing $5,000 in sanctions for continuing to obstruct the sale of the vacant lot.2 Approximately one month later, federal district court Judge Zilly similarly concluded that the new lis pendens notice violated his previous order to abstain from such filings, and he imposed contempt sanctions of $3,400 in attorney fees against both the accused and his mother, as well as a $2,500 sanction to be paid directly to the court. Judge Zilly again ordered that no further lis pendens notices be filed.3