(PC) Tran v. Smith ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 BINH CUONG TRAN, Case No. 1:19-cv-00148-ADA-SAB (PC) 11 Plaintiff, ORDER RE: BILL OF COSTS 12 v. (ECF No. 112) 13 S. SMITH, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff Binh Cuong Tran is proceeding pro se in this civil rights action filed pursuant to 17 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 18 I. 19 BACKGROUND 20 On February 14, 2023, the Court granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and 21 entered judgment in favor of Defendants. (ECF Nos. 110, 111.) 22 On February 22, 2023, Defendants submitted a bill of costs. (ECF No. 112.) Plaintiff 23 filed a motion to strike the bill of costs on March 10, 2023. (ECF No. 113.) 24 II. 25 LEGAL STANDARD 26 Rule 54 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “costs--other than 27 attorney’s fees--should be allowed to the prevailing party.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1). Rule 54 creates “a presumption for awarding costs to prevailing parties; the losing party must show why 1 costs should not be awarded.” Draper v. Rosario, 836 F.3d 1072, 1087 (9th Cir. 2016) (quoting 2 Save Our Valley v. Sound Transit, 335 F.3d 932, 944-45 (9th Cir. 2003)). In deciding whether 3 to exercise discretion to refuse to award costs, the district court should consider appropriate 4 reasons to deny costs such as “(1) the substantial public importance of the case, (2) the closeness 5 and difficulty of the issues in the case, (3) the chilling effect on future similar actions, (4) the 6 plaintiff’s limited financial resources, and (5) the economic disparity between the parties.” 7 Draper, 836 F.3d at 1087 (quoting Escriba v. Foster Poultry Farms, Inc., 743 F.3d 1236, 1247–48 8 (9th Cir. 2014)). This list is not exhaustive, but is a starting point for the analysis. Draper, 836 9 F.3d at 1087. 10 III. 11 DISCUSSION 12 The Court found in favor of Defendants and they are the prevailing parties in this action. 13 Thus, the presumption to award costs has arisen. Defendants seek costs for Plaintiff’s deposition 14 and docketing fees which are taxable costs under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920 and 1923. At the time that 15 Plaintiff’s deposition was taken it could reasonably have been expected to be used in the trial of 16 this action. Defendants have demonstrated that the costs for copying documents were necessarily 17 obtained for use in this action and are seeking a reimbursement at a reasonable rate. In 18 addition, under 28 U.S.C. § 1923(a), docket fees may be taxed as costs as “$20 on trial or final 19 hearing ... in civil ... cases.” The Court finds that the costs for which Defendants seek 20 reimbursement were necessarily obtained for use in the action. 21 Accordingly, the burden shifts to Plaintiff to rebut the presumption to award costs to the 22 prevailing party by showing reasons to deny costs. 23 Plaintiff argues that Defendants are not entitled to costs because judgment was entered 24 based on a motion for summary judgment and the case did not proceed to a jury trial. Plaintiff is 25 mistaken as costs are available to “the prevailing party” and Defendants are the “prevailing 26 parties” in this action. The Court's summary judgment ruling altered the legal relationship 27 between the parties because it adjudicated Plaintiff’s claims and finally held that Defendants are 1 | Care Home, Inc. v. W. Va. Dep't of Health & Hum. Res., 532 U.S. 598, 604 (2001) 2 | C‘[E]nforceable judgments on the merits ... create the ‘material alteration of the legal relationship 3 | of the parties’ necessary to permit an award of attorney's fees’”).) (alterations original); Saint 4 | John's Organic Farm v. Gem Cty. Mosquito Abatement Dist., 574 F.3d 1054, 1058 (9th Cir. 5 | 2009) (prevailing party must obtain judicially enforceable actual relief on the merits of their 6 | claim that materially alters the legal relationship between the parties). 7 IV. 8 ORDER 9 Based on the foregoing, it is HEREBY ORDERED that the costs of $1,191.75 shall be 10 | taxed to Plaintiff. 11 Db IT IS SO ORDERED. DAM Le 13 | Dated: _March 13, 2023 _ OO 14 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28