UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN 

SOUTHERN DIVISION 

Joshua Aldridge, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

City of Warren, Officer Colin 

McCabe, and Kimberley Teolis, 

Defendants. 

________________________________/

Case No. 15-cv-12366 

Judith E. Levy 

United States District Judge 

Mag. Judge Elizabeth A. Stafford

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ BILL OF COSTS [66] 

 Before the Court is defendants’ bill of costs, filed under Fed. R. App. 

P. 39(e), arising from plaintiff Joshua Aldridge’s appeal of the Court’s 

orders granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment and imposing 

sanctions on plaintiff’s counsel, the firm of Christopher Trainor & 

Associates. (Dkt. 66.) 

 This case involved alleged violations of plaintiff’s civil rights by 

defendants. (Dkt. 1.) On January 12, 2016, the Court granted 

defendants’ motion for summary judgment and permitted defendants to 

file a motion for sanctions. (See Dkt. 30.) On March 21, 2016, the Court 
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granted the motion for sanctions, and issued a final order detailing the 

sanctions on May 22, 2016. (Dkt. 53.) 

Plaintiff appealed the Court’s orders granting defendants’ motions 

for summary judgment and for sanctions. On March 30, 2017, the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion affirming both 

orders. (Dkt. 65.) 

Defendants have now filed a bill of costs pursuant to Fed. R. App. 

P. 39(e). (Dkt. 66.) Defendants seek costs totaling $463.27 for three 

transcripts relevant to the appeal: $106.27 for a transcript of the 

December 23, 2015 hearing on the request to stay discovery (Dkt. 54); 

$136.00 for a transcript of the January 12, 2016 hearing on the motion 

for summary judgment (Dkt. 32); and $221.00 for a transcript of the 

March 21, 2016 hearing on the motion for sanctions. (Id. at 1–2.) 

 Plaintiff objects to the bill of costs on two grounds: (1) the $10,000 

maximum sanction imposed by the Court included court transcripts for 

all fees and costs incurred after the safe-harbor letter, which was sent in 

early January 2016, and (2) defendants have not shown the December 

23, 2015 hearing transcript was necessary to the appeal. 
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 First, the $10,000 maximum sanction was imposed under Fed. R. 

Civ. P. 11, and included “fees and costs.” (Dkt. 53.) Plaintiff’s counsel 

argues this sanction included the costs for transcripts of the January 12, 

2016 and March 21, 2017 hearings. But costs under Rule 11 are imposed 

for reasons and conduct separate from the costs a party may recover 

under Fed. R. App. P. 39. 

Rule 11 sanctions are imposed both for “conduct tied to a particular 

pleading” and “conduct related to the case as a whole,” including when 

counsel or a litigant “insist[s] on a position after it is no longer tenable.” 

Runfola & Assoc., Inc. v. Spectrum Reporting II, Inc., 88 F.3d 368, (6th 

Cir. 1998) (Cohn, J., concurring). And costs awarded under Fed. R. App. 

P. 39 are granted because a party was forced to defend on appeal. As 

Rule 39(a) states in relevant part, “if a judgment is affirmed, costs are 

taxed against the appellant.” Fed. R. App. 39(a)(2). Therefore, any costs 

awarded to defendants under the order imposing sanctions is exclusive 

of costs incurred as a result of the appeal. Accordingly, the order 

imposing sanctions did not include the costs for transcripts of the 

January 12, 2016 and March 21, 2017 hearings that defendants used on 
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appeal. Defendants are entitled to recover the $136.00 and $221.00 in 

transcript costs. 

 Defendants also seek $106.27 in costs for the transcript of the 

December 23, 2015 hearing. Plaintiff’s counsel contends defendants have 

made no showing that the transcript was necessary for the appeal. But 

plaintiff’s counsel argued the Court erred by entering a stay of discovery 

during that conference, and counsels’ conduct during and following that 

conference factored into the Court’s decision to impose sanctions and was 

therefore part of plaintiff’s appeal. (See Dkt. 53 at 7.) Thus, the 

transcript was necessary for purposes of determining whether the Court 

abused its discretion in imposing sanctions, and defendants are entitled 

to recover the costs of this transcript. 

Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the bill of costs, which includes 

transcript fees for the December 23, 2015 hearing ($106.27), January 12, 

2016 hearing ($136.00), and March 21, 2017 hearing ($221.00), for a total 

of $463.27. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: April 14, 2017 s/Judith E. Levy 

Ann Arbor, Michigan JUDITH E. LEVY 

United States District Judge 
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

The undersigned certifies that the foregoing document was served 

upon counsel of record and any unrepresented parties via the Court’s 

ECF System to their respective email or First Class U.S. mail addresses 

disclosed on the Notice of Electronic Filing on April 14, 2017. 

s/Felicia M. Moses 

FELICIA M. MOSES 

Case Manager