Arizona

Family Law

Family Law

Rule 76.2 – Sanctions for Failure to Participate in a Court Proceeding

(a)Grounds for Imposing Sanctions. In a pre-judgment or post-judgment proceeding, the court upon motion or its own initiative may impose sanctions if a party or attorney:

(1) fails to obey a scheduling or pretrial order;
(2) fails to appear at a Resolution Management Conference, a scheduling conference, an evidentiary hearing, a trial, or other scheduled hearing;
(3) is substantially unprepared to participate in a conference, hearing or trial;
(4) fails to participate in good faith in a conference, hearing, or trial, or in preparing a resolution statement, scheduling statement, or pretrial statement.
(b)Sanctions. Absent good cause for conduct described in (a), the court may enter sanctions including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) directing that designated facts be taken as established for purposes of the action;
(2) prohibiting the disobedient party from supporting or opposing designated arguments, or from introducing designated matters in evidence;
(3) striking pleadings in whole or in part;
(4) staying further proceedings until the order is obeyed;
(5) dismissing the action or proceeding in whole or in part, unless dismissal would be contrary to the best interests of a child or the compliant party;
(6) rendering a default judgment, in whole or in part, against the disobedient party; or
(7) scheduling a proceeding to treat the violation as contempt of court.
(c)Fees and Expenses. Instead of or in addition to any other sanction, the court may order the disobedient party, the party’s attorney, or both, to pay reasonable expenses-including attorney fees, an assessment to the clerk, or both-caused by any noncompliance with a court order, unless the court finds that the noncompliance was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of fees, an assessment, or expenses unjust.

Ariz. R. Fam. Law. proc. 76.2

Adopted effective Jan. 1, 2019.