The Kansas Court of Appeals

Stephen Brave, counsel for Yudi Hernandez, appeals the district court’s order imposing sanctions against him under K.S.A. 2023 Supp. 60-211, K.S.A. 2023 Supp. 60-226, and the inherent powers of the court. Brave raises many claims on appeal including that the district court engaged in judicial misconduct by independently investigating facts not introduced into evidence and relying on them in its ruling, that the district court imposed a punitive sanction without affording Brave the protections of a criminal defendant, that the district court applied the wrong legal standard in determining whether Brave should be sanctioned under the inherent powers of the court, that the district court erred in finding that Brave violated K.S.A. 2023 Supp. 60-211, and that the district court erred in failing to sanction Brad Pistotnik (Brad) and his counsel for committing discovery fraud. We reject all these claims and affirm the district court’s judgment granting sanctions against Brave. The district court initially afforded Brave an evidentiary hearing to determine the proper amount of the sanctions but later abandoned the scheduled bench trial and, without giving proper notice, summarily awarded $275,000 in sanctions against Brave. Because of the violation of Brave’s procedural due process rights, we vacate the amount of sanctions awarded by the district court and any findings associated with the award, and remand for further proceedings.