Jaleh v. Alford

Filed 8/3/06 Jaleh v. Alford CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

FRED JALEH,

Plaintiff, Cross-defendant and Respondent,

PAUL ALFORD,

Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant.

E036802

(Super.Ct.No. RIC288964)

OPINION

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Richard Todd Fields, Judge. Affirmed.

Paul Alford, in pro. per., for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant.

John Theodore Dean for Plaintiff, Cross-defendant and Respondent.

Paul Alford, defendant and appellant (hereafter defendant) appeals from the trial court's postjudgment orders (1) denying his motion to set aside a 1998 judgment on the ground that the judgment had never been signed by a judge and, therefore, was void, and (2) denying his motion to tax $36,000 that this court had awarded, on its own motion, to the plaintiffs, Barbara and Douglas McNutt (hereafter the McNutts), as a sanction against defendant for pursuing a frivolous appeal from that judgment. Fred Jaleh, plaintiff and respondent (hereafter plaintiff) is the assignee of the McNutts' judgment and sanctions award.

BACKGROUND

Defendant's claims, both in the trial court and on appeal, are directed at invalidating the $36,000 in sanctions that this court imposed on him for pursuing a frivolous appeal in McNutt v. Alford (June 17, 1999, E022595) [nonpub. opn.].^[1] In that case, defendant appealed from a judgment obtained against him in 1998 by the McNutts after defendant attempted to evict them from their family home because the legal description contained in a deed to real property that defendant had purchased at a sheriff's sale incorrectly described the McNutts' property. Defendant persisted in his unlawful detainer and ejectment actions against the McNutts even after he learned that his deed incorrectly described their property rather than the property he had purchased. After the McNutts successfully defended against his unlawful detainer action, they sued defendant, among other things, to quiet title to the property and for declaratory relief. The McNutts prevailed on summary judgment and defendant appealed from the subsequently entered judgment. This court affirmed the McNutt judgment, and in an order dated June 17, 1999, imposed monetary sanctions on defendant, on the court's own motion, of $36,000 plus costs for pursuing a frivolous appeal.

The sanctions order stated that the award was â€

Description	Appeal from the trial court's postjudgment orders (1) denying appellant motion to set aside a 1998 judgment on the ground that the judgment had never been signed by a judge and, therefore, was void, and (2) denying appellant's motion to tax $36,000 that this court had awarded, on its own motion, to the plaintiffs, as a sanction against defendant for pursuing a frivolous appeal from that judgment. The postjudgment orders are affirmed.
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