IP is over the quota
Correction: Richard deSaulles' position with the county was misidentified in an earlier version of this article.
A lawsuit over repairs to a "decrepit" squid boat ended Tuesday with a judge fining the plaintiff's attorney $20,000 for egregious errors during the case he lost.
The sanction against Richard deSaulles is believed to be unprecedented in Monterey County. The order requires both Judge Kay Kingsley and the attorney who sought the sanction, David Hollingsworth, to report deSaulles to the state Bar for possible discipline.
Chief among deSaulles' sins, said Kingsley, was his disingenuous claim that he needed to delay trial in the case because of the unavailability of a key witness. DeSaulles, an instructor at the Monterey College of Law, said the woman would testify to the "misappropriation of hundreds of thousands of dollars" by Guiseppe "Joe" Pennisi II.
DeSaulles won his continuance, but when the case came to trial in February, he never subpoenaed the woman, Pennisi's bookkeeper Noel Cordova. He also had no proof Pennisi misappropriated funds he had been paid by Joseph Nunez, an 84-year-old would-be squid fisherman.
Kingsley granted Hollingsworth's motion for "non-suit," throwing out deSaulles' case after his opening statement. The jury instead heard evidence in the cross complaint by Pennisi, unanimously awarding him close to $170,000 in uncompensated work and interest.
The case dates back to 2009, when Nunez and his son hired
Pennisi to do about $230,000 in refrigeration work on a 65-year-old wooden fishing boat, the Pioneer. Pennisi subsequently agreed to do additional work for another $400,000.According to Hollingsworth, Pennisi was four days away from completing the work, and receiving a final payment of $91,000, when he went to the dock and found the Pioneer was gone. During the night, Nunez and his crew had taken the vessel and Pennisi's tools to San Pedro for the south coast squid season.
Nunez claimed the second contract was not valid and that Pennisi told him he would never return to the boat to complete the work. He sued Pennisi, a member of an extended Monterey Bay fishing family, for $2.5 million, claiming he had lost fishing time because of the poor work done on the Pioneer.
Kingsley indicated Tuesday the second contract was valid and that deSaulles' case "is a mess as presented," with no proof to back up his claims. She said deSaulles' unjustified request for a continuance on the last day before trial caused Hollingsworth, his staff and experts to expend unnecessary work.
His violation of court rules was compounded, she said, when he filed an "incorrect and misleading" proof of service with the court indicating he had delivered memorandums that Hollingsworth maintains he never received.
The judge ordered deSaulles to pay $20,728 for the additional costs, including 40 hours of Hollingsworth's work billed at $400 per hour. But she rejected Hollingsworth's claims that deSaulles should be required to pay the costs of the entire case because of alleged fabrication of evidence and perjury.
"If you think there was perjury, report it to the District Attorney's Office," she said. "If you think there was misconduct, take it to the Bar."
Both attorneys said they "respectfully disagreed" with Kingsley's ruling.
"I believe eventually it will be revealed that our inability to prepare the case was caused by the defendants," said deSaulles, who maintains Hollingsworth blocked him from completely deposing Cordova, the bookkeeper.
Hollingsworth said deSaulles "dodged a bullet today."
Pennisi said he plans to sue deSaulles and Nunez for malicious prosecution.
Local attorneys and retired Judges Richard Silver and Harkjoon Paik said they have never heard of a $20,000 sanction before in Monterey County.
"He must have done something awful," said Paik, who was unfamiliar with deSaulles or the case.
"I think he better get a lawyer," he added. "These sanctions cannot be taken lightly. It needs to be reported to the Bar."
Virginia Hennessey can be reached at 753-6751 or vhennessey@montereyherald.com.
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