Franklin v. Gude

Attorney Divida Gude moved the trial court to find Patricia Franklin in contempt for wilfully disobeying a court order. The trial court granted Gude’s motion, and Franklin appeals. For reasons that follow, we affirm.

The record shows that Gude’s client filed a declaratory judgment action against Franklin.1 During discovery, Gude noticed Franklin’s deposition for April 25, 2000, but Franklin did not appear. Gude moved for sanctions on behalf of her client, seeking, among other things, attorney fees and costs incurred when Franklin failed to attend her deposition. The trial court granted the motion on June 26, 2000, and ordered Franklin to pay Gude “attorney’s fees in the amount of $1,000.00 and costs of $84.00 by July 7, 2000.” The declaratory judgment action subsequently proceeded to trial, resulting in a verdict for Gude’s client.2 Franklin appealed to this Court, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the trial court’s jury charges, but not the sanctions order.3 We affirmed the jury’s verdict in an opinion dated January 4, 2002.4