Second District, Division 4 Rebuffs Multiple Challenges to Costs Award by Losing Plaintiff. We have often discussed how fee awards can be substantial and crippling; however, costs award can have the same sting, especially when substantial expert witness fees are shifted because a plaintiff rejected a CCP § 998 offer that the defense […]
Settlement Agreement Had No Waiver of Costs, Which Led to Reversal of an Order Denying Costs. There definitely is a practice lesson is the next case where a prevailing defendant obtained reversal of an order striking/taxing routine costs in postjudgment proceedings. Robertson v. St. John, Case No G043635 (4th Dist., Div. 3
Second District, Division 2 Finds Silence In Fee Shifting Statute Does Not Translate Into Legislative Intent to Impose Fees and Costs on Counsel. We have seen a recent surge in cases where appellate courts have reversed trial court decisions imposing fees and costs against a party’s counsel under certain fee shifting or sanction
Abuse of Discretion Standard Did Not Prevent Reversal When Record Showed Errors, According to Sixth District. In an interesting contrast to the way the abuse of discretion standard was deferentially applied in our contemporaneous post in Murrell v. Rolling Hills Community Association, the Sixth District found that the trial court abused its discretion in
Court of Appeal Disagrees that FedEx Charge Allowable Under Costs Statute as “Postage” Charge Equivalent. Many of the decisions we review are fairly technical, and the next one is no exception. It does show that 998 offer rejection decisions will be reviewed for abuse of discretion, but that costs decisions on legal entitlement will
Here is the second installment of our top 20 decisions. 10. Jankey v. Lee, 181 Cal.App.4th 1173 (1st Dist., Div. 4 2010), review granted, No. S180890 (May 12, 2010) — authored by Presiding Justice Ruvolo; discussed in our Feb. 6, 2010 post. Attorney’s fees are awardable to a prevailing defendant under Civil
First District, Division 4 Finds McCullough Reasoning Inapt; Also Refuses to Upset Cost Award to City in Separate Appeal. In City of Santa Rosa v. Patel, Case Nos. A124199/A124452 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Dec. 21, 2010) (certified for publication), City of Santa Rosa prevailed in a red light abatement action and was awarded
Second District, Division 6 Finds No Unreasonableness in Trial Court Awards. “Scorched earth” is a frequently bandied phrase in litigation. However, if a trial court believes that you as a litigant have engaged in it, this strategy may cost you big when it comes time for reckoning fee/cost recovery to the prevailing party after
Silent 998 Offer Came Back to Bite the Defense as Silence Proves Golden for Prevailing Party. Many of the decisions we examine have major object lessons for litigators to pay heed to. After all, we like to say that good case management skills are usually learned through mistakes. This next case illustrates this principle
Ninth Circuit Remands For District Judge to Determine Whether Costs Should Be Awarded Under Rule 54(d)(1). Resolving a split among federal district courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Quan v. Computer Sciences Corp., Case No. 09-56190 (9th Cir. Sept. 30, 2010) (for publication), decided that a prevailing party in an ERISA action
