Appealability: Failure To Appeal Order Denying Motion To Tax Expert Witness Fees Under CCP § 998 And Granting 128.5 Sanctions Over $5,000 Against Multiple Parties Means The Appeal Of Those Orders Had To Be Dismissed

Another Lesson We Have Preached:  Appeal Separate Costs And Sanctions Orders.

               In Abelar v. Providence Health System-Southern California, Case No. B321885 (2d Dist., Div. 3 Dec. 13, 2024) (unpublished), plaintiffs lost a medical malpractice case against numerous defendants, with the lower court imposing CCP § 128.5 sanctions of $11,425 against plaintiff’s counsel as to different defendants and denying plaintiff’s motion to tax costs, including expert witness fees based on CCP § 998 offers.  The appellate court dismissed plaintiff’s appeals from the sanctions and expert witness fee costs orders.

               The sanctions order appeal was dismissed because it was not separately appealed, and it exceeded $5,000; it did not matter that the award was in favor of different defendants—the aggregate amount of the award controlled.  The motion to tax costs denial order was affirmed because it was not separately appealed, and this is not an incidental award swept into the ultimate judgment—998 expert witness fees are different (Fish v. Guevara, 12 Cal.App.4^th 142, 148 (1993)).