Cases: Costs

Civil Rights/Costs/Lodestar: FEHA Winning Plaintiff Entitled To Almost $88,500 In Costs, But Trial Court Utilized Incorrect Lodestar Analysis On Reasonable Hourly Rate And Determining Hours Worked When Awarding $484,687.50 Out Of Requested $1,675,627.50

Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Costs, Cases: Lodestar

  Matter Remanded for Re-fixing of Fees Award.      Plaintiff winning a California Family Rights Act, some FEHA, and two common law claims—obtaining a jury verdict of $287,400–moved to recover about $95,000 in routine costs and $1,675,627.50 in fees enhanced by a 2.0 positive multiplier for well over $3 million in requested fees. The trial […]

Costs: Where Prevailing Party Falls Into One Of Mandatory Cost Categories, Lower Court Has No Discretion And Must Award Costs

Cases: Costs

  Trial Courts Cannot Determine “Prevailing Party” Discretionarily, If Categorical Fit Exists.      Site Management Services, Inc. v. Cingular Wireless LLC, Case No. D057106 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 13, 2014) (unpublished) is a doozy of a case, involving colocation agreements between cellular tower and related service companies.      “A very orange Bryan Jordan

Appealability/Civil Rights/Costs: Trial Court’s Reduction Of Some Costs Items Showed It Did Credit Ability To Pay When Assessing Costs Against Non-prevailing FEHA Plaintiff

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Civil Rights, Cases: Costs

  DCA Also Addressed Some Special Costs Items in the Process; Sustained Cost Award Assessed Against Counsel When Counsel Did Not Appeal.      Losing plaintiff in a FEHA case appealed after the lower court ordered that $34,906.12 in routine costs be paid by her (out of a requested $54,667.39).      Her challenges to the award

Costs: Losing Plaintiff In FMLA Case Properly Not Hit With Routine Costs In Favor Of Defendant

Cases: Costs

  Public Importance of Case, Closeness of Issues, Plaintiff’s Limited Financial Resources, and Disparity in Parties’ Economic Power All Justified Costs Denial.      The Ninth Circuit in Escriba v. Foster Poultry Farm, Inc., Case Nos. 11-17608/12-15320 (9th Cir. Feb. 25, 2014) (published) affirmed a jury verdict/district court judgment against a losing plaintiff, who earned $11,622

Costs: Defaulted Defendant Had No Right To File Costs Memorandum, So Motion Taxing Costs Properly Granted

Cases: Costs

  Defaulted Defendant, Although Getting Remand On Damages, Did Not Show Prevailing Party Status.      Although somewhat intuitive, Justice Fybel in a case involving defaulted defendants confirmed a common sense result where a defaulted defendant, only winning a remand on damages on appeal, claimed he was the prevailing party entitled to routine costs at the

Costs/Special Fee Shifting Statute/Small Claims: Are Legal Consultation Expenses Recoverable As Fees For A Prevailing Party In A Small Claims Action?

Cases: Costs, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

  Answer: No Case On The Issue We Are Aware Of, But We Will Give Our Guess.      A blog follower asked us if a small claims prevailing party can collect legal consultation expenses as “cost of the action” after prevailing—an apparent claim often made by winning small claims litigants.      We could not locate

Costs: Trial Court Did Not Err In Refusing To Apportion Routine Costs Where Losing Multiple Plaintiffs Proceeded Against Defendant On Single Theory

Cases: Costs

  Trial Judge Committed No Abuse in Having Winner Chase 49 Individual Plaintiffs to Collect $2,700 Pro Rated Costs Rather Than the Whole Enchilada.      In Aspell v. Mercury Casualty, Case No. B244501 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Feb. 13, 2014) (unpublished), an insurer obtained a jury verdict in its favor against 49 homeowners claiming they

Routine Costs: Trial Court Did Not Err In Awarding Travel Expenses For Litigant’s Parent Testifying At Trial Or Striking Refundable Jury Fee/Unrelated Prevailing Claim Cost Items

Cases: Costs

  Abuse of Discretion in Various Costs Orders Not Shown.      Kronick v. Mackston, Case No. B245492 (2d Dist., Div. 5 Feb. 10, 2014) (unpublished) is a wild dog incident case in Corona Del Mar Park in Pacific Palisades. Plaintiff sued defendant claiming that defendant kicked her dog and then threatened plaintiff, while defendant countersued

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