Opinion ID: 792212
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Copying Costs

Text: 100 The District Court awarded Terris $148,715 in copying costs. This award posited a cost of 20 cents per page claimed for internal copying; external copying was billed at cost. While the District Court acknowledged that this 20 cents per page rate was higher than the 10 to 15 cents deemed reasonable by most federal courts, 336 F.Supp.2d at 400 n. 7, it concluded that 20 cents was acceptable. 101 This Court taxes copying costs at 10 cents per page. See Third Circuit L.A.R. 39.3(c). As the District Court found, most courts to consider the issue have found that a rate of 10 to 15 cents per copy is appropriate. 20 We have serious concerns about the District Court's decision to grant ICO reimbursement at the rate of 20 cents per page. We judicially notice that Fed Ex/Kinko's charges less than 7 cents per page for large volume copying. The District Court did note that different types of copies have different costs; obviously color copies are more expensive than black and white ones. However, it is not clear from the record whether ICO's attorneys performed their more expensive copying in house. 102 The District Court seems not to have given this aspect of the case sufficient attention. Since we are remanding so many aspects of the award, we will also vacate and remand on this issue for fuller consideration. 21 In the same vein we will also vacate and remand for a more adequate review of the number of copies made by plaintiffs. ICO's attorneys submitted documentation for their internal and external copying, and the District Court concluded that the total number of copies was not excessive. But ICO requested reimbursement for 387,619 internal copies, and an unknown number of external copies. Thus, more than a conclusory ruling is called for. 22 103