Marriage of Matar & Kanj CA4/3
A trial court may, if proper procedures are followed, promulgate and adopt rules that apply only within a particular courtroom. They are an effective way of assuring orderly progress through the system of every case. These local-local rules may even impose stringent penalties for noncompliance. But if a court adopts such rules, the court must follow them, may only impose the penalty authorized for noncompliance, and must comply with statutory and due process requirements before imposing that penalty.
The trial court in this marital dissolution case adopted local local rules but did not comply with them. The court adopted a standing order which authorized, as the only penalty for noncompliance, monetary sanctions pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5. One of the litigants, Oliver Matar, who is the ex husband of the Dania Kanj, the other litigant, violated the standing order by not exchanging his trial exhibits at the pretrial conference.
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