Even if the client “earnestly believes” something to be true—and even if you, the attorney, “earnestly believe” it—without evidence, you can’t say it in court. Publishing its opinion in N.D. v. E.F. (D4d3 Jan. 20, 2026) case no. G066061 (nonpub. opn.) as a “cautionary tale,” attorney T. Matthew Phillips gets sanctioned $25,000 for violating this rule.
Phillips filed a deficient—indeed, a spectacularly deficient—writ petition challenging the rejection of his attempt to disqualify the trial judge. Without even attaching the statement of disqualification, Phillips’ writ petition accused a trial judge of conspiracy, retaliation, discrimination, and forging court orders.
Attaching the statement would not have helped anyway, it turns out, because it did not contain a shred of supporting evidence either. The Court of Appeal denied the petition for lack of a record, but issued an OSC directing Phillips to explain the basis for his scurrilous accusations, including these:
The strongest of Phillips’ very weak showing was his and his client’s “earnest belief” in the truth of the allegations.
The Court of Appeal acknowledged that “Attorneys can and should” raise challenges to judges, “even if they are ultimately unsuccessful—as long as there is a plausible legal basis and evidence in the record to support them.” But “[d]issatisfaction with a ruling, however deeply felt, is not itself evidence of judicial misconduct.”
As for the attorney’s duty to advocate zealously for their client, that “does not trump the equally important duty to “exercise independent professional judgment and render candid advice.”” And the advice any competent attorney is expected to render that “the attorney’s professional responsibility precludes him or her from pursuing such [a claim],” like the unsupported claims here.
The court stated: “We have a duty to “‘“protect the integrity of [the] court.”’” (In re Mahoney (2021) 65 Cal.App.5th 376, 380; accord Cal. Code Jud. Ethics, canon 2.A.) We fulfill that duty by sanctioning attorney T. Matthew Phillips $25,000.”
Takeaway
Because 90%+ of writ petitions are summarily denied, one may be lulled into the sense that their readers are not truly paying attention, so might as well go for the gusto. Putting accusations like these in a filed petition must be a rush! But do not make that mistake. The absence of a full reasoned opinion does not mean that writ petitions are not being read and considered carefully. And as attorney Phillips learned here, there are worse things than having your writ petition denied—they can be denied for attorney error (failing to supply a record), and worse, they can result in sanctions.
