Opinion ID: 156986
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fax Expenses

Text: 66 The appellants requested $858.86 in fax charges. The district court awarded them nothing, concluding that the request was out of line with normal costs and, more importantly, largely duplicative [s]ince faxes were generally followed up with a mailing. Aplts' App. vol. VII, at 2308. Having reviewed the fax charges, we find no abuse of discretion and affirm this portion of the district court's order. The majority of the fax charges the appellants attempted to bill to the defendants was for incoming faxes, at a cost of between $.25 and $1.00 per page. See Aplts' App. vol. VI, at 2059 (entries for five-page fax received 6/26/95 costing $1.25 and six-page fax received 12/1/95 costing $6.00). While we can appreciate that a firm must cover its overhead, the appellants have failed to establish that a client would think it reasonable to pay $.25-$1.00 per page for incoming faxes. The defendants should not be forced to pay this freight either. As for the outgoing faxes, the appellants, who have the burden to prove the reasonableness of all their expenses, see Mares, 801 F.2d at 1208, have not shown that the district court was erroneous in its conclusion that the faxes represented a duplication of effort and expense. We find no abuse of discretion.