Court Opinion

ID: 9497931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:03:58.164809+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:30.758895
License: Public Domain

ROGERS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Making preliminary broad objections to the court award of costs should not preclude the opportunity to object to a clerk’s proposed bill of costs, unless court procedures make clear that litigants will forfeit their procedural rights in that way.
It is true that the district court has discretion to award costs without action by the clerk, as the cases cited by the majority hold. But where exercise of that power effectively eliminates the chance to make a detailed objection to each element of the bill of costs, exercise of the power may amount to an abuse of discretion. The cases cited by the majority are not to the contrary. In Deering, Milliken & Co. v. Temp-Resisto Corp., there was no ques*421tion as to the correctness of the items or the amounts in the bill of costs sought to be taxed, and accordingly, the decision to bypass the clerk did not result in a loss of the opportunity to object to specific items. 169 F.Supp. 453, 454 (S.D.N.Y.1959). In Nelson v. Darragh Co., the district court denied a motion to quash a bill of costs, but the order reflects only that the court ordered the submission of an amended bill of costs. 120 F.R.D. 517, 520 (W.D.Ark.1988). The cases cited in Nelson also do not appear to have involved a contention that the district court’s action bypassed the ability of the taxed party to object to elements of the bill of costs. E.g., Syracuse Broadcasting Corp. v. Newhouse, 32 F.R.D. 29, 29 (N.D.N.Y.1963), aff'd, 319 F.2d 683 (2d Cir.1963) (parties agreed to bypass clerk).
The costs assessed in this case were very large, and in some categories they appear greater than warranted. While I agree that we should generally defer to the exercise of discretion by the district court, doing so would sit much more comfortably if the taxed party had clearly been given the chance to object as provided for in Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d).