No Abuse of Discretion Shown, Although Requested Costs Cut About $4,500.
When you appeal, you must show legal error or some manifest abuse of discretion. Plaintiffs/appellants did not do that in Barany v. Andron, Case No. A130891 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Apr. 6, 2012) (unpublished).
There, a defendant sent out two separate successive 998 offers, meaning that plaintiffs were defensed in a car negligence case and were liable for post-offer cost shifting given that they had to put on expert witness testimony at trial. The defense requested about $20,000 in costs (mostly expert witness fees), and was awarded $15,446.11 by the trial court.
Plaintiffs were simply wrong in arguing that the 998 offers were ineffective, because they rejected them and failed to obtain a more favorable judgment. (Saakyan v. Modern Auto, Inc., 103 Cal.App.4th 383, 389 & n. 6 (2002).) The costs award containing some components for retention of expert costs was no abuse of discretion or “patently absurd.” Costs award affirmed.