On October 5, 2010, Judge McBryde of the Northern District of Texas issued an Order in Val-Com Acquisitions Trust v. Wells Fargo (pdf copy of Order here). Two interesting points to note.
First, Judge McBryde noted that one of the plaintiffs had been dismissed from the case as a sanction for her failure to appear at a court-ordered settlement conference.
Second, after granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment, Judge McBryde took up defendant’s motion for Rule 11 sanctions, which requested sanctions against plaintiff and her counsel. Judge McBryde denied the motion, because defendant had not complied with Rule 11(c)(2)’s twenty-one day safe harbor period, which requires the party requesting sanctions to serve a copy of the sanction motion on the opposing party at least twenty-one days prior to filing the motion with the court. The twenty-one day safe harbor provision allows the opposing party the opportunity to correct or withdraw the challenged paper, claim, defense, etc.
Stephen Tiemann represents the plaintiff.
Wells Fargo is represented by Richard Illmer and Kevin Koronka, both of Brown McCarroll LLP.