Yurtis v. Phipps

143 Wash. App. 680
Court of Appeals of Washington·Decided April 1, 2008·No. No. 23940-3-III·Published·Cited by 66 cases

Opinion

¶1 Jane Yurtis appeals a Pend Oreille County Superior Court order granting Harve Phipps’s motion to dismiss and motion for sanctions. Mr. Phipps seeks an award of attorney fees and costs as well as sanctions against Ms. Yurtis. In addition, Mr. Phipps asks this court to enter an order preventing Ms. Yurtis from filing any further lawsuits against him.

Kulik, J.

¶2 Since 1997, this court and the Supreme Court have reviewed Ms. Yurtis’s appeals on numerous occasions. An individual does not have an absolute and unlimited constitutional right of access to the judicial system. Ms. Yurtis’s claims have been repeatedly rejected and found to be frivolous. We conclude that the trial court did not err by granting the motion to dismiss and motion for sanctions. We also award attorney fees and costs to Mr. Phipps and order sanctions of $2,500 to be paid by Ms. Yurtis to Mr. Phipps. Finally, Ms. Yurtis is prohibited from filing any further action or appeals related to the 1991 real estate purchase and sale agreement.

FACTS

¶3 This case has a long and convoluted procedural history, which includes numerous petitions to both the Wash[684] ington State Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.

¶4 The 1991 Land Transaction. The case stems from a 1991 real estate purchase and sale agreement (hereinafter 1991 land transaction) entered into by Ms. Yurtis, the seller, and Richard and Carol Jones, the buyers. The sale agreement named attorney Harve Phipps as the closing agent, and the terms of the agreement required all liens to be satisfied by Ms. Yurtis prior to, or on the day of, closing. Prior to closing, Mr. Phipps discovered two liens on the property. Ms. Yurtis refused to satisfy the liens and, as a result, the title to the property was unmarketable at closing.

¶5 The Joneses sued for specific performance of the agreement, and the case went to trial in January 1993. The trial court found that the Joneses “have been ready, willing, and able to close but have insisted that the two liens be cleared from the title prior to closing.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 177. Finding that Ms. Yurtis breached the sale agreement to discharge all liens, the trial court granted specific performance and ordered that all liens be satisfied in order to clear title. Mr. Phipps satisfied the liens and the sale closed in March 1993.

¶6 Actions against Harve Phipps. In 1993, Ms. Yurtis filed a complaint against Mr. Phipps for breach of contract and contempt of court. In December 1993, the trial court granted Mr. Phipps’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed Ms. Yurtis’s suit with prejudice. In its decision, the trial court found that

2. The conduct of Defendant Harve Phipps in connection with the closing of the real estate transaction which forms the basis of Plaintiff’s Complaint was, at all times, as a matter of law, consistent with previous orders of the Court, the law of the State of Washington and the standard of care for attorneys practicing in Eastern Washington ....
3. [Ms. Yurtis’s] claims against Defendant are, as a matter of law, frivolous and without any merit and Defendant is entitled to award of costs and attorneys fees incurred in defense of this action.

[685] CP at 160. The trial court awarded Mr. Phipps attorney fees in the amount of $1,641.90.

¶7 Ms. Yurtis appealed the decision; in February 1997, this court dismissed her appeal. In his ruling, the commissioner noted that the case against Mr. Phipps was essentially a relitigation of the issues presented in Jones v. Yurtis, noted at 79 Wn. App. 1024 (1995). The commissioner also specifically found that

Ms. Yurtis sued her former attorney for breach of contract.... Her “Petition for Justice Re: Breach of Contract/Contempt of Court” contends that her former attorney Harve Phipps wrongfully closed the transaction ....

CP at 180-81 (emphasis added).

¶8 The commissioner found that the appeal was frivolous and without merit:

Ms. Yurtis’ brief and her beliefs are founded upon a faulty premise. . . . Her attempted supplementation of the record, if granted, provides no grounds for assailing the fundamental theories upon which she has lost in both trial court actions and again on appeal.
This appeal has absolutely no merit. It rehashes issues from a case in which Ms. Yurtis did not prevail, and given this Court’s earlier opinion, there is no reasonable possibility of reversal. The appeal is frivolous.

CP at 181-83.

¶9 As a result, Mr. Phipps was awarded $1,000 in sanctions as well as attorney fees and costs “for having to defend against a groundless appeal.” CP at 183. Ms. Yurtis’s motion to modify the commissioner’s ruling was denied, as was her petition for review.1 Yurtis v. Phipps, 133 Wn.2d 1015, 946 P.2d 402 (1997). This court issued a mandate terminating appellate review of the case on October 9,1998.

¶10 In early 1999, Ms. Yurtis filed a motion to recall the mandate. Her motion was denied, and she filed a notice of [686] discretionary review at the Washington State Supreme Court. In denying her motion for discretionary review, the Supreme Court commissioner stated:

Ms. Yurtis is trying once more to reopen a case she has conclusively lost many times. She presents no new argument or authority. Her rehashing of previously-rejected arguments provided no basis for the Court of Appeals to recall its mandate, and provides no basis for this court to grant discretionary review. Indeed, Ms. Yurtis’s efforts to continue with this lawsuit are not just frivolous, but a gross abuse of the justice system warranting sanctions under RAP 18.9(a).

CP at 141.

¶11 The commissioner imposed sanctions in the amount of $250. Subsequently, a panel of justices denied Ms. Yurtis’s motion to modify the commissioner’s ruling. The United States Supreme Court denied her petition for cer-tiorari as well as her petition for rehearing. Yurtis v. Phipps, 528 U.S. 942 (1999); Yurtis v. Phipps, 528 U.S. 1057 (1999).

¶12 Nevertheless, in June 2003, Ms. Yurtis filed a second motion to recall the mandate terminating review, to supplement the record, and to consolidate her suit against Mr. Phipps with the Joneses’ lawsuit. The Court of Appeals denied the motion in July 2003. Ms. Yurtis again petitioned for discretionary review by the Washington State Supreme Court. In a ruling filed on February 9, 2004, the commissioner of the Supreme Court denied her motion for discretionary review, stating: [687] CP at 142. Additionally, the court imposed a $500 sanction, paid to Mr. Phipps, and a $250 sanction, paid to the court itself. The ruling stated that no further pleadings may be filed in the action until the Supreme Court sanctions were paid. Ms. Yurtis’s subsequent motion to modify the ruling was denied.

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Yurtis v. Phipps, 143 Wash. App. 680 (Wash. Ct. App. 2008).

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