Abrams v FSM Development Bank [2016] FMSC 6; 20 FSM R. 309 (App. 2016) (12 February 2016)

Abrams v. FSM Dev. Bank
20 FSM R. 309 (App. 2016)

FSM SUPREME COURT APPELLATE DIVISION

APPEAL CASE NO. P10-2014

BENJAMIN M. ABRAMS,
Appellant,

vs.

FSM DEVELOPMENT BANK,
Appellee.

ORDER CORRECTING CAPTION

Dennis K. Yamase
Chief Justice

Decided: February 12, 2016

APPEARANCE:

For the Appellant:
Benjamin M. Abrams, Esq. (pro se)
International Guam Law Offices, P.C.
P.O. Box 141
Hagatna, Guam 96932

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HEADNOTES

Appellate Review - Decisions Reviewable; Appellate Review - Notice of Appeal

Sanctions against an attorney may only be appealed when the attorney makes the appeal in the attorney's own name and as a real party in interest. When the attorney was named in the notice of appeal's caption and in its body as the real party in interest, that requirement has been satisfied. Abrams v. FSM Dev. Bank, 20 FSM R. 309, 310 (App. 2016).

Appellate Review - Parties

An appellant should include in the caption only those persons or entities that are a party to the appeal. Abrams v. FSM Dev. Bank, 20 FSM R. 309, 310 (App. 2016).

Appellate Review - Parties

In an appeal from an attorney sanction order only the sanctioned attorney and the a party to whom the sanction is payable are parties to the appeal. Abrams v. FSM Dev. Bank, 20 FSM R. 309, 310 (App. 2016).

* * * *

COURT'S OPINION

DENNIS K. YAMASE, Chief Justice:

This appeal is from the trial court's imposition on attorney Benjamin M. Abrams of Rule 11 monetary sanctions of $10,262.50 in attorney's fees payable to the FSM Development Bank.

Sanctions against an attorney may only be appealed when the attorney makes the appeal in the attorney's own name and as the real party in interest. In re Sanction of Woodruff, 9 FSM R. 374, 375 (App. 2000); In re Sanction of Berman, 7 FSM R. 654, 656 (App. 1996); see also Palsis v. Tafunsak Mun. Gov't, 16 FSM R. 116, 122 (App. 2008). Since attorney Benjamin Abrams was named in the notice of appeal's caption and in its body as the real party in interest in this appeal, that requirement has been satisfied.

Benjamin M. Abrams, as the only real party in interest in the appeal, is thus the sole appellant that should be named in this appeal case. His clients are not parties to this appeal case since the sanction was imposed only on their attorney, Abrams. In another attorney sanction appeal, the court noted that an appellant should include in the caption only those persons or entities that are a party to the appeal. In re Sanction of Woodruff, 9 FSM R. 374, 375 (App. 2000). In this appeal, that would be Benjamin A. Abrams, Appellant and FSM Development Bank, Appellee. No other party to the case below is a party to the sanction order(s) attorney Abrams appealed from and for which, in this appeal case, Abrams now seeks appellate review. Furthermore, none of the parties in the case below have appeared in this case.

Now therefore it is hereby ordered that the caption of Appeal Case No. P10-2014 is corrected to reflect the actual parties in this appeal case, and it is further ordered that all future filings in this case shall bear the corrected caption, as displayed above.