Allstate Insurance v. Plambeck

66 F. Supp. 3d 782, 2014 WL 2980265, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89946
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 2, 2014
DocketNo. 3:08-CV-388-M
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 66 F. Supp. 3d 782 (Allstate Insurance v. Plambeck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allstate Insurance v. Plambeck, 66 F. Supp. 3d 782, 2014 WL 2980265, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89946 (N.D. Tex. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER ACCEPTING FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

BARBARA M.G. LYNN, District Judge.

After making an independent review of the pleadings, files, and records in this case, and the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge dated June 2, 2014, the Court finds that the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge are correct and they are accepted as the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the Court.

IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge are accepted.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

DAVID L. HORAN, United States Magistrate Judge.

The “Chiropractic Defendants” — defined as those parties that filed Chiropractic Defendants’ First Amended Answer [Dkt. No. 143], except for Brownsville Chiropractic Clinic, Inc., Main Street Chiropractic, Inc., Monon Trail Chiropractic, Inc., and West TUSC Chiropractic, Inc. — filed a Motion to Review Taxation of Costs [Dkt. No. 703], District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn has referred this motion to the undersigned magistrate judge. See Dkt. No. 709. Plaintiffs have responded, see Dkt. No. 704, but the Chiropractic Defendants have not filed a reply, and their time to do so has passed, see N.D. Tex. L. Civ. R. 7.1(f). Based on the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Motion to Review Taxation of Costs [Dkt. No. 703] should be denied.

Background

Neither the parties nor Judge Lynn need any general briefing from the undersigned on the background of this case.

On April 16, 2014, the Court entered its Final Judgment [Dkt. No. 691], and Plain[785]*785tiffs then filed their Bill of Costs [Dkt. No. 692], requesting taxable costs in the amount of $119,162.37, as well as another Bill of Costs [Dkt. No. 693], as Counter-Defendants, requesting taxable costs in the amount of $19,531.57. (For ease of reference, the undersigned will refer to Plaintiffs/Counter-Defendants simply as “Plaintiffs” unless the context dictates otherwise.) The Clerk of the Court has taxed these amounts against Defendants. See Dkt. Nos. 699 & 700.

The Chiropractic Defendants challenge certain costs taxed for what the Chiropractic Defendants describe as “duplicative deposition charges (i.e., charging for both stenographic and video recordings of depositions) and charges for multiple copies of documents.” Dkt. No. 703 at 1.

Legal Standards and Analysis

Taxable costs are recoverable under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. Section 1920(2) authorizes recovery of costs “for printed or electronically recorded transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case.” 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2). Section 1920(4) authorizes recovery of “costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are necessarily obtained for use in the case.” Id. § 1920(4). The party seeking recovery of costs bears the “burden of justifying the necessity of obtaining the depositions and copies at issue.” Fogleman v. ARAMCO (Arabian Am. Oil Co.), 920 F.2d 278, 286 (5th Cir.1991).

Objections to Costs for Video Recordings of Depositions

Plaintiffs sought recovery of their costs for stenographic transcripts of the numerous depositions taken in this case as well as the costs for video recording of those depositions that were videotaped. See Dkt. Nos. 692, 693, 699, & 700. “[T]he Chiropractic Defendants do not dispute that the Plaintiffs are entitled to their costs for stenographic transcripts of the numerous depositions taken herein,” but the Chiropractic Defendants assert that “no showing can be made that [Plaintiffs] are entitled to recover the costs of the video recording thereof, save for those depositions for which the videos were actually utilized at trial.” Dkt. No. 703 at 3. According to the Chiropractic Defendants, Plaintiffs’ “bills of cost list 74 volumes of depositions for which they seek to recover stenographic transcripts,” and, “[f]or 58 of 'those volumes, [Plaintiffs] also request costs for the Video fee’ of the same deposition/volume.” Id. at 3-4. But, the Chiropractic Defendants contend, “at the trial of this cause, 38 of those depositions (by volume) played no role at all.” Id. at 4. The Chiropractic Defendants argue that “the need to obtain video deposition copies was particularly wanting with regard to the depositions of the parties or party representatives and their experts, who [Plaintiffs] should have reasonably anticipated would be present at trial.” Id. “[W]ith regard to such depositions taken in this case,” the Chiropractic Defendants continue, “the only use of the depositions which was ever presented before the Court was the use of the stenographic transcript, which transcripts were undisputedly utilized by both sides to identify relevant deposition excerpts in the pretrial proceedings.” Id.

The Chiropractic Defendants request a reduction in the Plaintiffs’ taxable cost in the amount of $18,973.57 — $13,713.57 from Plaintiffs’ Bill of Costs [Doc. 692], see Dkt. No. 699, and $5,260.00 from Counter-Defendants’ Bill of Costs [Doc. 693], see Dkt. No. 700 — for costs that they allege are not properly recoverable under 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2). See Dkt. No. 703 at 4 & n. 4. They make two arguments to support this request.

[786]*786First, the Chiropractic Defendants contend that, while videotape deposition costs and deposition transcripts are both recoverable costs, the Court should not award costs for both transcripts and videos unless the videos were actually used at trial. See id. at 2. According to the Chiropractic Defendants, because Section 1920(2) utilizes the disjunctive “or” when discussing recoverable costs for “printed or electronically recorded transcripts,” it would be contrary to the plain language of Section 1920 to allow Plaintiffs to recover costs for both stenographic transcripts and video costs for the same depositions. See id. at 3 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2)).

Second, the Chiropractic Defendants assert that, because the videos of the depositions in this case were not used at trial, the video copy of same simply was not “obtained for use in the case,” and, as a result, the costs for video recording of those depositions should not be deemed taxable. See id. at 4 (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2)).

As to the first argument, although the scope of taxable costs is “narrow” and “modest” and “limited by statute,” Taniguchi v. Kan P. Saipan, Ltd., — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1997, 2006, 182 L.Ed.2d 903 (2012), the governing statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2), as amended in 2008, indisputably authorizes recovery of costs for video recordings of depositions, see 28 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
66 F. Supp. 3d 782, 2014 WL 2980265, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89946, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allstate-insurance-v-plambeck-txnd-2014.