Opinion ID: 2631783
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appeal of Costs

Text: [¶22] The district court entered a judgment on the jury's verdict, and ordered costs be awarded to Mr. Schaefer. Mr. Nish filed a notice of appeal from the judgment on the jury's verdict, which is the case at bar. Mr. Schaefer submitted a certified statement of costs, pursuant to Uniform Rule of District Court 501, and a Motion for Award of Costs, pursuant to W.R.C.P. 68, outlining the specific costs requested. Mr. Nish objected to Mr. Schaefer's requests, but the district court apparently was not convinced by those objections and entered an order awarding all of the specific costs requested by Mr. Schaefer. Thereafter, Mr. Nish filed a second notice of appeal, challenging the district court's award of costs. That appeal was docketed as Supreme Court No. 05-238. Mr. Nish did not file a brief in Case No. 05-238, and on November 22, 2005, this Court dismissed that case for want of prosecution. Undaunted by the dismissal of the costs appeal, Mr. Nish included an issue in his brief in this case contesting the award of costs. Mr. Schaefer claims the costs issue is not properly before this Court because Mr. Nish's costs appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution. [¶23] Pursuant to W.R.C.P. 58(c), a district court retains jurisdiction to determine a request for costs after a final judgment has been entered on the merits of the case. Anderson v. Hernandez, 2005 WY 142, ¶ 18, 122 P.3d 950, 954 (Wyo. 2005). A pending motion for costs does not affect the finality of the judgment and does not stay the time for filing a notice of appeal from the judgment on the merits. W.R.A.P. 2.01, 2.02; Anderson, ¶ 16, 122 P.3d at 954-55. W.R.A.P. 2.01 requires an appeal to be filed within thirty days from the entry of an appealable order, and W.R.A.P. 2.07 directs the appellant to identify the order appealed and attach a copy of the order to the notice of appeal. The notice of appeal effects an appeal of the order identified in the notice. See W.R.A.P. 2.01, 2.07. [¶24] Our precedent reveals cases where we have considered, together, appeals from the judgment on the merits and a subsequent order on costs. See, e.g., Winterholler v. Zolessi, 989 P.2d 621 (Wyo. 1999); Schaub v. Wilson, 969 P.2d 552 (Wyo. 1998). However, those cases involved a consolidation, for consideration and decision, of the appeal on the merits with the appeal of the costs award. They did not involve a unilateral decision by the appellant to ignore the separate appeals. In Centra, Inc. v. Chandler Ins. Co. Ltd, 2000 U.S.App. LEXIS 22609, pp. 34-36 (10th Cir. 2000), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals recognized the importance of a separate appeal of an order on costs entered after the judgment on the merits. Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), which is similar to W.R.A.P. 2.01, the Tenth Circuit ruled that, even though the judgment on the merits referenced costs by directing the parties to file motions for attorneys' fees and costs, a separate appeal from the district court's actual determination of the parties' requests for costs was required. The appellant's failure to file a separate notice of appeal from the trial court's order on costs deprived the court of appeals of jurisdiction over the matter. Id. Since Case No. 05-221 does not include an appeal from the district court's order on costs, issues pertaining to that order cannot be raised in this appeal. We, therefore, decline to consider Mr. Nish's claims of error regarding the award of costs. [¶25] Affirmed.