Hawkes v. Sommer
Ervin Sommer appeals from a judgment and numerous orders of the superior court in favor of Linda Hawkes, as the trustee of the Julia Jeppesen Hawkes Trust (collectively, the Trust), for which he acted as a co-trustee from September 1994 until his removal in October 1997. The judgment awarded the Trust compensatory and punitive damages arising out of Sommer's execution of promissory notes, payable by the Trust to him and secured by a deed of trust against Trust property, during the time that he was acting as a co-trustee, and also awarded the Trust $11,916.50 in attorney fees against him. Sommer contends that the judgment and the court's orders issued in the proceedings cannot stand. The Trust argues that certain of the decisions Sommer purports to appeal are not appealable, that his appeal from others is untimely and that, in any event, the appeal is without merit; it requests sanctions against Sommer for pursuing a frivolous appeal.
Court conclude that we have no jurisdiction over Sommer's appeal as to the orders denying his request that the trial judge recuse from the case and striking his challenge for cause, its denial of his motion for reconsideration, its decision (or lack thereof) on his motion to vacate the judgment and the order granting a preliminary injunction and thus dismiss the appeal as to those matters. Insofar as Sommer appeals from the judgment and the order awarding attorney fees to the Trust, we conclude that the appeal is without merit and affirm the judgment and order in all respects. Because the Trust is entitled to recover its reasonable attorney fees in this appeal, Court decline to award the Trust its fees a second time as a sanction.
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