K.J. v. Los Angeles Unified School District

Summary

The court held that a notice of appeal identifying a client rather than the sanctioned attorney may be liberally construed to include the attorney when the attorney’s intent to participate is reasonably clear and the respondent was not misled or prejudiced. Those conditions were satisfied because the notice identified only the sanctions order, the order affected only the attorney, the attorney had actively litigated the sanctions issue, and the respondent showed no prejudice. The court reversed the dismissal and remanded for consideration of the merits.