Court Opinion

ID: 9745014
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:28:30.040451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:54.721112
License: Public Domain

WALLIN, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I agree that sanctions are appropriate in this case. If Marilyn Schnabel had sought sanctions from Terry Schnabel I would have awarded them. However, I disagree with the idea that the sanctions should be payable to this court. Due process entails adjudication by a neutral decisionmaker who, by definition, does not benefit from the decision. Obviously the court benefits at least incrementally from the determination that sanctions are warranted. That does not seem very neutral to me. Since we are the appellate court, there is also no right of appeal. How is this for due process: we announce to the parties that we are thinking that *757sanctions are appropriate, and then, after we decide they are, award them to ourselves! While I realize that plenty of opinions impliedly countenance the payment of sanctions to a court, I do not believe our Supreme Court has ever squarely confronted the issue. It may wish to do so sometime in the future.
Appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied February 23, 1995.