Opinion ID: 4551573
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Costs Were Improperly Taxed to MO HealthNet

Text: The very last sentence in the circuit court’s judgment states: “Costs are taxed against [MO healthNet].” This subject is not mentioned anywhere else in the judgment. MO HealthNet claims this was error because costs cannot be taxed against the state (or its departments, divisions, agencies, or officers in their official capacities) without a specific statute authorizing the court to do so. MO HealthNet is correct. Richardson v. State Highway & Transp. Comm’n, 863 S.W.2d 876, 882 (Mo. banc 1993) (“Absent statutory authority, costs cannot be recovered in state courts from the state of Missouri or its agencies or officials.”). No statute authorizes the circuit court to tax costs against the state in this action, and the judgment is vacated with respect to this issue. Planned Parenthood argues the circuit court acted properly under section 536.087.1, which provides: A party who prevails in an agency proceeding or civil action arising therefrom, brought by or against the state, shall be awarded those reasonable fees and expenses incurred by that party in the civil action or agency proceeding, unless the court or agency finds that the position of the state was substantially justified or that special circumstances make an award unjust. See also Garland v. Ruhl, 455 S.W.3d 442, 446 (Mo. banc 2015) (“Section 536.087 waives sovereign immunity only for unjustified positions by state agencies in contested administrative cases.”) (quotation marks and emphasis omitted). To be sure, Planned Parenthood sought an award of attorney fees and expenses under section 536.087 in its petition for judicial review. And assuming, without deciding, that this action arose from an “agency proceeding” as defined in section 17 536.085(1), Planned Parenthood may be entitled to such an award if the legal positions taken by MO HealthNet were not substantially justified as required by section 536.087.1. But nothing indicates this is what the circuit court intended to do, and much suggests it was not. To “tax costs” to a non-prevailing party is not the same as to “award” fees and expenses to a party who prevails against the state in an administrative proceeding. The former is automatic and largely ministerial. See §§ 514.060 (“In all civil actions, or proceedings of any kind, the party prevailing shall recover his costs against the other party, except in those cases in which a different provision is made by law.”); 514.260 (“The clerk shall tax and subscribe all bills of costs arising in any cause or proceedings instituted or adjudged in the court …”). An award of attorney fees and expenses under section 536.087, on the other hand, requires evidence and a more nuanced evaluation of the state’s positions. With no indication that the circuit court was acting under section 536.087.1 with respect to the challenged portion of the judgment taxing costs to MO HealthNet, the use of the verb “taxed” rather than “awarded” leads this Court to assume the circuit court was acting under section 514.060. That statute is not sufficient to authorize the circuit court to tax costs to the state actors in this action, however, and the portion of the judgment doing so is reversed.