Sanctions

Sanctions are penalties imposed by a court on parties during a civil litigation. For example, if a party fails to comply with the rules of discovery or fails to adhere to a court order, a court may impose sanctions such as:

• fining a party
• making one party pay for another party’s legal fees
• excluding evidence
• entering judgment against that party

If a party thinks that an opposing party or attorney is engaged in misconduct, the party may move for sanctions – – ask the court to sanction the party engaged in misconduct.