However, Trial and Appellate Rulings Offer Some Good Pointers On Agency Case Costs, Attempted Service Of Process On Two Addresses, Sheriff Travel Costs To Sign Depositions, And Ways To Have Deponents Sign Depositions Without Traveling To Court Reporter Office.
We hope over the years that some of our posts have offered practice pointers, which we constantly learn from posting on California published and unpublished decisions. Although it primarily affirmed an award of routine costs to the California Department of Food and Agriculture as a prevailing party in a discrimination case, Whitaker v. Cal. Dept. of Food and Agriculture, Case No. E064923 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Apr. 6, 2018) (unpublished) did provide us some pointers which we share with our readers.
First, the government claimed $40 for demurrer continuance fees. But the appellate court found this was not reasonable and necessary to the litigation such that it had to be stricken. The reason? Government agencies are exempt from bearing such fees; simply because they paid it did not detract from the fact it was not necessary given the agency’s exempt status.
Second, the appellate court affirmed that the trial court did not err by finding a process server going to two addresses for service of process was reasonable under the circumstances.
Third, the daily witness fee for a subpoenaed sheriff’s deputy is $275, but can be allocated to a party or reimbursed depending on if the actual cost to the sheriff’s department is higher or lower. (Gov. Code, § 68096.1.) Generally, unless the parties stipulate otherwise, a deponent has to return to the court reporter’s office to proofread or sign a deposition transcript. (In Southern California, attorneys routinely stipulate to relieve the court reporter of custody duties so that the deposition transcript is sent to attorneys and a proofreading/signing schedule is settled upon. However, we have talked to California attorneys who indicate that many attorneys in Northern and Central California will not stipulate in line with what Southern California attorneys routinely do.) However, there is an alternative procedure: the deponent may approve or refuse to approve the transcript via a certified or registered letter sent to the reporter within 30 days. (CCP § 2025.520(c), (f))—so, that is something to keep in mind if the Southern California stipulation procedure is not agreed to by attorneys from other areas of the state. However, here the state agency requested costs for sheriff deputies to go down to the local court reporter and sign their deposition transcript. Was this compensable? You betcha, said both the trial and appellate courts. In this instance, the deputies needed to travel down to expedite a transcript to be used by the agency in a summary judgment proceeding, such that it was reasonable and necessary. Arguably, it was an expressly allowable cost as part of the transcription process. However, beyond that, it certainly was within the lower court’s discretion to rule that it was reasonable and necessary under the routine costs discretionary provision.