Dieterle v. Dieterle n/k/a Hansen, 978 N.W.2d 722

Shannon Dieterle and Angela Hansen (formerly Dieterle) divorced in 2012; Shannon was awarded primary residential responsibility for their child.
Hansen filed multiple motions about residential responsibility and parenting time; the district court entered an April 13, 2016 standing order barring Hansen from filing any filings on those issues without prior court permission due to frivolous/duplicative filings.
In December 2021 Hansen filed a motion for an order to show cause (contempt) alleging visitation violations; she did not seek or obtain the standing-order permission before filing.
The district court denied Hansen’s motion as unsupported and frivolous, found it violated the standing order, and awarded Shannon $1,500 in attorney’s fees as sanctions.
Hansen then filed a demand for change of judge five days after the court’s order; the district court denied the demand as untimely. Hansen appealed the denial of the motion, the sanctions award, and the denial of change of judge.

Issue	Dieterle's Argument	Hansen's Argument	Held
Whether the denial of Hansen’s motion for an order to show cause is appealable	The district court’s denial should be treated as a denial of leave to file under the standing order and thus not appealable	The court ruled on the merits of her motion and therefore the order is appealable	Court treated the order as denial of permission to file and dismissed that part of the appeal (not appealable)
Whether awarding $1,500 in attorney’s fees was improper/abuse of discretion	Fees were authorized by the standing order because Hansen’s filing was frivolous and forced a response	The award was improper and an abuse of discretion	Affirmed — court did not abuse its discretion; fees were proper as sanction/contempt and are appealable on their own
Whether denial of Hansen’s demand for change of judge was proper	Demand was untimely (filed after the court’s order) and properly denied	Demand was valid	Affirmed — demand was untimely and properly denied

Wheeler v. State, 965 N.W.2d 416 (N.D. 2021) (order denying leave to file is not appealable)
Everett v. State, 952 N.W.2d 95 (N.D. 2020) (same principle on prefiling restrictions; courts should not reach merits without leave)
Kettle Butte Trucking LLC v. Kelly, 910 N.W.2d 882 (N.D. 2018) (contempt orders are immediately appealable)
State ex rel. Olson v. Nelson, 222 N.W.2d 383 (N.D. 1974) (interlocutory fee awards are generally not immediately appealable)
Viscito v. Christianson, 862 N.W.2d 777 (N.D. 2015) (sanctions may be appealable even if other rulings are not)
Dieterle v. Dieterle, 875 N.W.2d 479 (N.D. 2016) (standards for reviewing contempt findings)
Riemers v. Hill, 881 N.W.2d 624 (N.D. 2016) (sanctions under inherent power reviewed for abuse of discretion)
Adolph Rub Trust v. Rub, 473 N.W.2d 442 (N.D. 1991) (untimeliness of change-of-judge demands)