Plaintiff Allowed 128.7’s Safe Harbor Period To Come And Go Against Real Estate Agent, And The Court Ordered Her And Her Lawyer To Pay $60,000 In Defense Attorney Fees.

Plaintiff purchased a home from defendants. Two years later, plaintiff brought an action against defendants and their real estate agent to recover damages for their failure to disclose defective subfloors in the home. The real estate agent moved for terminating and monetary sanctions against plaintiff and her counsel pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 128.7, arguing the undisputed evidence showed the real estate agent had fulfilled his statutory and common law disclosure duties and plaintiff had actual notice of facts disclosing prior problems with subfloors. Plaintiff did not dismiss the action during the safe harbor period, but amended her complaint to add more claims. The court found the real estate agent met his burden, dismissed plaintiff’s claims against him and ordered plaintiff and her attorney to pay $60,000 to the real estate agent for his attorney fees in defending the action. On appeal, the appellate court found the trial court acted within its discretion, and “that no reasonable attorney would have concluded [plaintiff’s] statutory and common law claims against the real estate agent were factually and legally supported.” (Peake v. Underwood (Cal. App. Fourth Dist., Div. 1; June 25, 2014) (As modified July 17, 2014) 227 Cal.App.4th 428, [173 Cal.Rptr.3d 624].)