Opinion ID: 2348379
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Finality and Costs

Text: This Court has held that an order is deemed final and appealable if the decision is the trial court's last act in disposing of all justiciable matters within its jurisdiction. [11] This Court has consistently held, and recently reaffirmed, that a judgment on the merits is not final until an outstanding application for an award of attorney's fees has been decided. [12] In this case, the question presented is whether a decision on the merits constituted a separately appealable final judgment, notwithstanding the fact that a motion for an award of costs remained undecided. The trial courts in Delaware have adopted rules that are generally identical to corresponding provisions in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 58 provides, in part: [e]ntry of the judgment shall not be delayed... in order to tax costs. According to the Committee Notes, this provision was added in 1946 for emphasis, although the federal law was already of long standing to that effect and well settled. [13] Superior Court Rule 58(3) includes substantially identical language to Federal Rule 58. Court of Chancery Rule 58, however, does not address what impact an undecided application for a taxing of costs has on the finality of a prior judgment on the merits. [14] Nevertheless, we are convinced that judgments on the merits become final without waiting for a ruling on the issue of costs alone. Accordingly, we hold that the pendency of a motion for costs alone does not delay the finality of a judgment on the merits. We also hold that an appeal from the final judgment on the merits does not divest the trial court of jurisdiction to decide the motion to award costs. [15] Any decisions by this Court to the contrary are overruled. [16]