ARMANDO SOLORIO vs. XPO LOGISTICS, INC

Summary:

Attorney Carla J. Hartley of Dillingham and Murphy represents the plaintiff. A series of 6 discovery motions were brought which resulted in heavy sanctions being issued by the judge.

The court ordered attorney Carla Hartley, personally, to pay $7245 in sanctions. Her law firm was jointly sanctioned.



From the Judge and Court File:

We counted six different discovery motions in a case where Carla Hartley represented the plaintiff:

1. Defendant's motion to compel further responses to a request for documents (set 2)

2. Defendant's motion to compel further responses to a request for documents (set 3)

3. Defendant's motion to compel further responses to requests for admissions (set 1)

4. Defendant's motion to compel plaintiff to answer questions during his deposition.

5. Defendant's motion to compel further responses to written questions (set 2)

6. Defendant's motion to compel further responses to written questions (set 3)



For motion #1 the judge denied dueling sanctions requests. Read Order

For motion #2 the judge issued sanctions against attorney Carla Hartley for $2310. Her law firm was jointly sanctioned. The judge specifically ordered that Ms. Hartley's client did nothing wrong and only his attorney was being sanctioned. Read Order

For motion #3 the judge issued another $2310 in sanctions against attorney Hartley personally, with her law firm, while ruling only the attorneys were being sanctioned. Read Order

For motion #4 the judge said some deposition questions were improperly objected to and not answered. The court imposed $2625 in sanctions against Carla J. Hartley, Dillingham & Murphy, and the plaintiff. Read Order

For motion #5 the judge ruled the discovery and motion to compel was improper and sanctioned the defendant's attorney Krystle Meyer $1390. Read Order

For motion #6 the judge issued the same ruling as for motion #5. Read Order



Lawzilla Commentary:

Scoreboard of Attorney Sanctions:

Carla Hartley: $7245
Krystle Meyer: $2780

Total: $10,025


This is one of the biggest series of discovery disputes we have seen with a judge hammering both attorneys for a total of more than ten thousand dollars.

It is rare to see a judge sanctioning an attorney and not also imposing sanctions against their client.

Would you hire Carla Hartley to be your attorney? (Note: The sanctions and this article involve attorney Carla J. Hartley from San Francisco in Northern California. She should not be confused with attorney Carla L. Hartley from Ventura in Southern California.)

This is just one case, but it involves multiple motions. $7245 in sanctions is hard to ignore, especially when the judge is singling out an attorney by name (and not just her law firm) as deserving to be sanctioned. It is a massive amount.

There are many good labor and employment law attorneys and this may cause us to look elsewhere.

Carla Hartley was admitted to the California Bar in 1984. Bar Number 117213.

Dillingham & Murphy, LLP
601 Montgomery Steet, Suite 1900
San Francisco, California 94111

Law School: Santa Clara

Sanctions are Recoverable as a Judgment - Analysis of the little known fact that sanctions awarded in a lawsuit can be enforced as their own separate judgment. Surprise someone by putting a lien on their bank account, home, wages, etc.

Krystle Meyer page.