Headnotes: Last Resort Writs, HOA Traps, and Sanctions

Tim Kowal July 22, 2025

Here are a few cases I did not have time to write up but seemed either important or irritating enough to mention:

The last resort to reverse a judgment when all other lights go out? Writ of coram nobis. A 9th Circuit panel, denying relief after Supreme Court confirmed that certain jury instructions on subjective intent (like the one here) are wrong, offers three views: Judge Miller’s majority (the doctrine’s door is narrowly ajar for exceptional cases, but this is not it), Judge Nelson’s concurrence (FRCP remedies slammed the door to coram nobis claims), and Judge Desai’s dissent (the doctrine should be broader). Cervantes-Torres v. United States (9th Cir., June 24, 2025, No. 23-55617)

Don't dismiss without a release of costs: Homeowner dropped HOA suit, but got stuck with $150k in fees when HOA was determined the prevailing party. JENNINGS, v. BAYSIDE COURT OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC. (D1d5, June 27, 2025, No. A171339) (non-pub. opn.)

No findings = sanctions reversed! But don't get too excited: on remand, the trial court can supplement the order with findings why the frivolous SLAPP motion supported sanctions. SZETO, v. SUNG YI. (D4d3, July 2, 2025, No. G064497) (non-pub. opn.)

How to sanction an attorney fact witness: Not the Rule 11 clumsy 21-day safe harbor. Instead, cite 28 U.S.C. § 1927, and say the attorney has “multiplie[d] the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously.” Defendant general counsel withdrew an erroneous declaration but still got sanctioned, affirmed on appeal. Rowland v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (9th Cir., July 7, 2025, No. 24-5196)

(Artwork by Randall Holbrook, RNDL.DESIGN.)

Tim Kowal is an appellate specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Tim helps trial attorneys and clients win their cases and avoid error on appeal. He co-hosts the Cal. Appellate Law Podcast at CALpodcast.com, and publishes summaries of cases and appellate tips for trial attorneys. Contact Tim at Tim@KowalLawGroup.com or (949) 676-9989.

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"Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

— Howard H. Aiken

"Counsel on the firing line in an actual trial must be prepared for surprises, including requests for amendments of pleading. They cannot ask that a judgment afterwards obtained be set aside merely because their equilibrium was slightly disturbed by an unexpected motion."

— Posz v. Burchell (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 324, 334

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers."

— H.L. Mencken

“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?”

— James Madison, Federalist 62

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody."

—T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality."

— Will Durant

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.

— Leviticus

"So far as the beginnings of law had theories, the first theory of liability was in terms of a duty to buy off the vengeance of him to whom an injury had been done whether by oneself or by something in one's power. The idea is put strikingly in the Anglo-Saxon legal proverb, 'Buy spear from side or bear it,' that is, buy off the feud or fight it out."

— Roscoe Pound, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law

"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else."

— Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind."

— Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."

— Plato (427-347 B.C.)

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor."

— Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187

Headnotes: Last Resort Writs, HOA Traps, and Sanctions

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"Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." — Howard H. Aiken

"A judge is a law student who grades his own papers." — H.L. Mencken

"Moot points have to be settled somehow, once they get thrust upon us. If an assertion cannot be proved, then it must be settled some other way, and nearly all of these ways are unfair to somebody." —T.H. White, The Once and Future King

"Upon putting laws into writing, they became even harder to change than before, and a hundred legal fictions rose to reconcile them with reality." — Will Durant

Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. — Leviticus

"It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else." — Hon. Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of Australia

"God made the angels to show Him splendor, … Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind." — Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." — Plato (427-347 B.C.)

"At common law, barratry was 'the offense of frequently exciting and stirring up suits and quarrels' (4 Blackstone, Commentaries 134) and was punished as a misdemeanor." — Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187