Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Taxation of Costs under § 1920 — Video Deposition Costs Unrecoverable Where Summary Judgment Granted and Videos Unnecessary for That

In re Text Messaging Antitrust Litig., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121804 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 2, 2014):

The law permits a party to recover costs for both a paper transcript and video recording of a deposition; the standard is whether it was reasonably necessary for counsel to obtain both. See Little v. Mitsubishi Motors N. Am., Inc., 514 F.3d 699, 702 (7th Cir. 2008). Plaintiffs argue that the witnesses whose depositions were video recorded were defendants' personnel and that there was no reason to believe they would be unavailable at trial, thus it was not reasonably necessary for defendants to pay for a copy of the video recording as well as the paper transcript. In their reply, defendants do not dispute the factual basis for this argument and thus have conceded it. Their only argument is that plaintiffs' counsel, who took the depositions, had them video-recorded. This is insufficient, however, to make it reasonably necessary for defendants to obtain a video copy. They do not contend that they needed the video versions for their motions for summary judgment, [*25]  and the case never got close enough to trial to make it reasonable to obtain the video recordings for purposes of witness preparation. The Court agrees with plaintiffs that the expenses for the video recordings are not recoverable costs.

Share this article:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Recent Posts

(1) Appellate Review of Inherent Power Sanctions (7th Circuit): Factual Findings Reviewed for Clear Error, Choice of Sanction for Abuse of Discretion — 4-Element Test for Reversal; (2) Sanctions and Class Actions: Monetary Sanctions Properly Imposed on Defendants for Improper Communications with Class Members (Represented Parties) — “[I]f The Class And The Class Opponent Are Involved In An Ongoing Business Relationship, Communications From The Class Opponent To The Class May Be Coercive” (Good Quote); (3) Monetary Sanctions under Goodyear v. Haeger: If Same Fact-Gathering Would Have Been Conducted Absent The Misconduct, No But-For Causation — But Only “Rough Justice” Required, “Not Accountant-Like Precision” (Good Quote) — Once Misconduct Is Clear, Time Spent Ferreting It Out Compensable under Goodyear; (4) Goodyear Did Not Overrule Long-Standing Rule That Courts May Impose Modest Civil Monetary Sanctions to Curb Litigation Abuse; (5) Appellate Jurisdiction Lacking Where Sanctioned Attorney Fails to File Notice of Appeal and Lawyer’s Intent to Appeal Not Apparent from Client’s Notice; (5) Rule 11 Improper Purpose — Party May Have Many Purposes for Pursuing Claim — As Long As Claim Is Supported by Good Faith Belief in the Merits, “A Parallel Reason Does Not Violate Rule 11” — To Deny A Motion for Sanctions, The District Court Need Not Address Every Argument: “Arguments Clearly Without Merit Can, And For The Sake Of Judicial Economy Should, Be Passed Over In Silence” (Good Quote); Non-Monetary Sanction on Counsel: Complete Twice The Required Amount Of Professional Responsibility Hours For Her Next Continuing Legal Education Cycle Imposed By The State Bar

Archives