FOLLOW THE RULES!: Seasoned Plaintiff’s Attorney To Be Sanctioned For “Cavalier Disregard” Of Local Rules

Hi TCPAWorld!

Victoria here reminding you how important it is to simply FOLLOW THE RULES.

In Hudosn-Bryant v. OCMBC Inc., 8:24-cv-00067-FWS-JDE (C.D. California. May 27, 2026), the court denied Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification since Plaintiff’s counsel failed to comply with a Local Rule requiring the parties to meet and confer prior to filing a motion. The court then issued an Order to Show Cause regarding why sanctions should not be issued.

Rookie mistake, right? WRONG.

Here, Plaintiff’s counsel includes one of the best known and most feared Plaintiff’s lawyers in the country: Anthony Paronich. And shockingly enough, this wasn’t even the first time in this case the court reprimanded Plaintiff’s counsel for failing to comply with the same Local Rule.

In September 2024, the court was “extremely disappointed to find that Plaintiff’s counsel failed to follow” the same Local Rule when filing its Motion to Amend Complaint. In this prior offense, the court did not sanction Plaintiff’s counsel, finding that the damage to the just and speedy determination of the action was already too great and that further action would only increase these damages. Although the court did express its “severe disappointment with Plaintiff’s counsel’s blatant disregard for the Local Rules.”

As the saying goes: “a mistake made more than once is a choice.”

This time, the court had enough. Going as far as calling Plaintiff’s counsel’s failure to comply a “cavalier disregard for both the letter and the spirit” of the Local Rule.

As stated in the case: “Compliance with the Local Rules is not optional.”

No one is above the rules, folks! As the court notes, Local Rules are not “just a piece of petty pedantry put down to trip up lawyers” or “mere formalism simply there” for lawyers to ‘check off’.” citing Lopez v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 2016 WL 6088257, at *2 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2016). Instead, these Local Rules serve important functions to help “secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding.” Id.

As if the failure of plaintiff’s counsel to follow the Local Rule was not damaging enough to the “just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of this action, it also has great potential to damage Plaintiff’s wallet. The court’s Local Rules in Hudosn-Bryant v. OCMBC Inc. provide for monetary sanctions, costs and attorneys’ fees to opposing counsel, and/or any other sanctions as the court may deem appropriate under the circumstances.

Although counsel for Plaintiff in Hudosn-Bryant v. OCMBC Inc. obviously didn’t learn from their own mistake, let us not do the same. Read the Local Rules. Follow the Local Rules. And, if it wasn’t obvious enough, don’t violate the same Local Rule two filings in a row…