Opinion ID: 2628535
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Was Lucerne's certificate of costs timely filed?

Text: [¶ 56] U.R.D.C. 501(a)(1) provides in pertinent part that [w]ithin 20 days after entry of the final judgment allowing costs to the prevailing party, a certificate of costs shall be filed and copy served upon opposing counsel. In the present case, the Order on Location of Easement was filed on November 24, 2009. That order did not indicate that it was a final judgment, and no mention was made of costs. On November 30, 2009, the Wilsons submitted a proposed judgment. On December 2, 2009, Lucerne filed an objection to the form of that proposed judgment. The matter was heard on December 17, 2009, at which time the district court indicated that the November 24, 2009, order would stand as the final judgment and granted Lucerne's request to submit a certificate of costs. Lucerne's certificate of costs was filed on January 5, 2010. [¶ 57] The Wilsons contend that Lucerne should have filed its certificate of costs within twenty days of entry of the November 24, 2009, order. They cite Platt v. Creighton, 2007 WY 18, ¶ 9, 150 P.3d 1194, 1199 (Wyo. 2007) for the proposition that time limits established by court rule are mandatory. While this legal proposition may be true, we find that the November 24, 2009, order, at the time it was entered, was not the final judgment allowing costs to the prevailing party contemplated by U.R.D.C. 501(a)(1). It was not until December 17, 2009, after considering the parties' proposed judgments, that the district court announced the November 24, 2009, order as the final judgment and directed Lucerne to file its certificate of costs. Such filing occurred within twenty days, making it timely.