What if someone isn’t participating in a case? Will they be sanctioned?

Seeking Advice
1

I’m the petitioner in my case and we have specific rules laid out in our paperwork. The court date is just a week away, and so far the defendant hasn’t served me their response from three months ago. They’ve also refused to meet and confer, which was required to try to come to an agreement. Plus, we both needed to file a case management statement and serve it to each other, and he didn’t do that either. I feel like he’s wasting our time, and we could be making progress instead. What can I do about this? Will the court hold him liable for not participating? Our paperwork mentions the possibility of sanctions.

2

Keep dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s. Judges really don’t like this kind of behavior.

3

They don’t like it, but honestly, they often don’t do much about it.

4

Do you have a lawyer? I believe they can file a motion requesting action from him. If he still doesn’t respond, it won’t look good for him, but if he’s representing himself, the court might give him more time. The judge will probably be a bit annoyed if this keeps happening though.

5

@Denise
I don’t have a lawyer right now. I guess I should consider getting one before the court date.

6

Charlie said:
@Denise
I don’t have a lawyer right now. I guess I should consider getting one before the court date.

Definitely, having legal representation can really help navigate these issues. Good luck!

7

You might want to document everything. If you can show that he’s not complying with the rules, it could help your case if you end up needing to ask for sanctions.

8

Dahlia said:
You might want to document everything. If you can show that he’s not complying with the rules, it could help your case if you end up needing to ask for sanctions.

That makes sense. I’ll make sure to keep track of everything. Thanks for the tip!

9

Make sure to bring up these violations in court. The judge needs to know what’s going on. Sanctions are possible if he continues to disregard the rules.

10

Kimberly said:
Make sure to bring up these violations in court. The judge needs to know what’s going on. Sanctions are possible if he continues to disregard the rules.

I’ll definitely mention it. I just want to make sure I’m doing everything right.