Carrington v. Graden

Background

The court had previously ordered Rovier Carrington not to file future lawsuits in federal or state court arising from or related to this case without the court’s prior authorization. In a December 23, 2020 order, the court found Carrington and his current lawyer, G. Scott Sobel, in civil contempt of that earlier order. To cure the contempt, the court required them to withdraw a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by January 13, 2021.

Carrington and Sobel did not withdraw that complaint. After two postponements of a hearing requiring them to explain their noncompliance, both appeared at a February 4, 2021 hearing. The court reiterated its earlier contempt finding and also found them in civil contempt of the December 23 order.

Sanctions for Carrington

Civil contempt sanctions may be designed to force compliance with a court order, compensate an injured party, or both. The court concluded that incarceration was the only sanction likely to coerce Carrington’s compliance. It considered the fact that a prior award of substantial attorneys’ fees remained unpaid, as well as the court’s view that Carrington’s conduct had escalated to fabricating allegations of bribery and corruption against the defendants and the court.

The court also reviewed medical records and information about the medical condition identified by Sobel, including information concerning that condition’s possible interaction with COVID-19. Despite those considerations, the court ordered Carrington to be arrested and confined until he fully complied with the September 11 and December 23, 2020 orders. He was required to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service for the Central District of California by noon on February 22, 2021. If he did not surrender by that date, the Marshals were directed to use reasonable force necessary to apprehend him, including forcible entry into a residence or domicile believed to be associated with him.

Sanctions for Sobel and fee request

The court found Sobel in contempt but determined that incarceration was not appropriate because of the comparative recency and nature of his involvement. Instead, beginning February 22, 2021, Sobel was ordered to pay $500 per business day until he complied with the September 11 and December 23 orders. The court directed that this sanction be reconsidered three months later after the defendants provided a status update.

The defendants’ lawyers were permitted to submit a request for attorneys’ fees and costs arising from the contemptuous conduct by March 26, 2021. Carrington was permitted to oppose that submission by April 26, 2021. The opinion authorizes those submissions; it does not state that the requested additional fees and costs were awarded in this order.

Disposition

The court imposed confinement on Carrington and daily monetary sanctions on Sobel for civil contempt. It also set deadlines for the defendants’ attorneys’ fees and costs request and Carrington’s opposition.