Under Rule 11, the party seeking sanctions must serve the motion on the opposing party and give that party 21 days to withdraw the offending pleading. Here, the defendants apparently served the sanctions motion, but they failed to file it before the plaintiffs’ complaint was already dismissed by the district court. The district court refused to hear the motion. The court explained its ruling in this passage:

Courts have uniformly denied Rule 11 motions where, as here, a motion was not filed until after the case was dismissed. See Roth v. Green, 466 F.3d 1179, 1193 (10th Cir. 2006) (motions for Rule 11 sanctions filed after district court dismissed complaint should have been denied; citing cases from four other circuits); VanDanacker, 109 F.Supp.2d at 1054.

The courts have reasoned that to grant Rule 11 sanctions based on a motion filed post-dismissal would defeat the purpose of the safe harbor provision. The advisory committee notes to Rule 11 provide strong support for this conclusion:

Ordinarily the motion should be served promptly after the inappropriate paper is filed, and, if delayed too long, may be viewed as untimely. . . . Given the “safe harbor” provisions . . . [in Rule 11(c)(2)], a party cannot delay serving its Rule 11 motion until conclusion of the case (or judicial rejection of the offending contention).Fed. R. Civ. P. 11, Advisory Committee Notes (1993 Amendments). A leading federal practice treatise explains the rationale for this rule: “if the court disposes of the offending contention within the 21-day safe-harbor period after service, it becomes impossible under the provision of Rule 11(c)(2) to file the motion or otherwise present it to the court.” 2 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore’s Federal Practice § 11.22[1][c] (3d ed. 2014); see also 5A Charles Alan Wright and Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1337.2, at 727 (3d ed. 2004) (“[S]ervice of a sanctions motion after the district court has dismissed the claim or entered judgment prevents giving effect to the safe harbor provision or the policies and procedural protections it provides, and it will be rejected.”).

Because defendants’ motion for Rule 11 sanctions was not filed until after the Court dismissed plaintiff’s complaint with prejudice, the motion is untimely and must be denied because it defeats the purpose of the safe harbor provision ofRule 11.^[3]

It makes perfect sense that the court did not want to waste further time on a case it had already dismissed. To do so, would be a waste of judicial resources.

Edward X. Clinton, Jr.

Source: Noonan v. CACH, LLC, Dist. Court, ED Missouri 2016 – Google Scholar

The underlying dispute concerned an inspection of Chevron’s premises in Nigeria. Plaintiffs’ experts were initially denied access, but Chevron claimed that it cleared up the problem almost immediately and obtained access for the experts.

In any event, the sanctions motion was denied because the defendant did not violate or refuse to comply with a specific court order. The court explained:

Plaintiff seeks sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, which governs “failure to comply with a court order.” Defendant contends that Rule 37 does not apply because the December 2015 trip was not scheduled pursuant to a specific court order. The Court agrees. In Unigard Sec. Ins. Co. v. Lakewood Engineering & Mfg. Corp., 982 F.2d 363 (9th Cir. 1992), the Ninth Circuit held that a district court could not sanction a party under Rule 37 for the party’s destruction of evidence prior to filing suit. The court explained,

This court has foreclosed the application of Rule 37 sanctions in cases such as this where a party’s alleged discovery-related misconduct is not encompassed by the language of the rule. The definition of “order” in Rule 37(b) has been read broadly. See, e.g., Henry v. Sneiders, 490 F.2d 315, 318 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 832, 95 S.Ct. 55, 42 L.Ed.2d 57 (1974) (Rule 37 sanctions may be imposed on a party for disobedience to a court’s request in oral proceedings, so long as those proceedings give the party unequivocal notice that a court has asked that certain documents be produced.). But Rule 37(b)(2)’s requirement that there be some form of court order that has been disobeyed has not been read out of existence; Rule 37(b)(2) has never been read to authorize sanctions for more general discovery abuse.Id. at 368.

Here, plaintiff acknowledges that there is no court order that Chevron has disobeyed. Instead, plaintiff asserts that Chevron’s United States counsel either negligently or intentionally failed to coordinate with Chevron’s Nigerian representatives to ensure that plaintiff’s experts would be able to access the explosion site. Under Unigard, Rule 37 sanctions are unavailable for this conduct.

Source: GBARABE v. CHEVRON CORPORATION, Dist. Court, ND California 2016 – Google Scholar

Here, plaintiff tendered a Rule 11 safe harbor notice, giving the defendant 21 days to remedy the alleged violation. The defendant did its research and amended the complaint promptly, avoiding sanctions. The court explains:

“Plaintiff’s motions additionally seek Rule 11 sanctions against the attorneys representing ORNTIC and BONY on the grounds that their submissions have been fraudulent and/or frivolous because they misrepresented the existence of BONY and ORDMS and because the attorneys have no legal services agreements with BONYMCorp or ORNTIC. BONY’s counsel maintains that BONY is the proper defendant in this case and argues that Plaintiff has failed to prove otherwise. In support, BONY notes that the Clerk of the Court has declined to grant default against BONY on two occasions. See ECF 64, 123. Having reviewed the record, the Court agrees with BONY’s counsel that Plaintiff has failed to establish that BONY is the improper party. See BONY’s RJN Exh. C (SOT listing BONY as the assignee of Plaintiff’s DOT). Accordingly, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions against BONY’s counsel.

As for ORNTIC, its counsel explains that, after receiving Plaintiff’s Safe Harbor Notice for her Rule 11 motion, counsel contacted ORDMS who then researched the issue and concluded that ORNTIC is in fact the proper party defendant in this case. Upon learning this, counsel immediately filed a Notice of Errata to advise the Court of the error and filed a “corrective” Motion to Dismiss the SAC. ORNTIC’s counsel argues that this remedied any offensive pleading within the time allotted in Plaintiff’s Safe Harbor Notice and the Court agrees. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion for sanctions against ORNTIC’s counsel is DENIED.”

Source: Cox v. OLD REPUBLIC NATIONAL TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY, Dist. Court, ND California 2016 – Google Scholar