Must Reading for Recovery of Electronic Discovery and Demonstrative/Visual Aid Expenses.
The Ninth Circuit in In re Online DVD-Rental Antitrust Litig., No. 12-16183 (9th Cir. Feb. 27, 2015) (published)—a companion case to the fee award decision recently posted on—provided a “must read” discussion for clients/practitioners attempting to recovery certain electronic discovery and demonstrative/visual aid expenses as “taxable” costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. Here is a quick summary of the highlights of this decision:
1. Charges for data upload and keywording are not recoverable as costs for making copies under 28 U.S.C. § 1920(4), but the issue was remanded to see if they were awardable as professional services;
2. Costs attributable to optical character recognition, conversion of documents to TIFF, and endorsing activities are recoverable, but generic computerized “professional services” may not be without greater specification; and
3. Costs for production of certain PowerPoint documents is a discretionary costs item, with the district judge not committing error in declining to award such expenses.