Brown v. American Honda Motor Co.

704 So. 2d 1234, 97 La.App. 3 Cir. 599, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 2786, 1997 WL 741985
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 3, 1997
DocketNo. 97-599
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 704 So. 2d 1234 (Brown v. American Honda Motor Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. American Honda Motor Co., 704 So. 2d 1234, 97 La.App. 3 Cir. 599, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 2786, 1997 WL 741985 (La. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

[ iWOODARD, Judge.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Honda R & D Co., Ltd., and Honda Yamaha of Eunice, Inc. (Honda) appeal from a judgment of the trial court, in favor of Dennis Brown and Diana Brown (Brown), assessing costs of court for deposition and expert witness costs against Honda in the amount of $25,271.96 and court costs. The judgment requires that these amounts be paid prior to the second trial of the matter. We affirm.

FACTS

On November 14-18,1994, this matter was tried before a jury which returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Honda on all issues. On February 10, 1995, the trial court heard Brown’s Motion for a New Trial. On May 30, 1995, the trial court granted Brown’s Motion for a New Trial and ruled that Honda would be cast for costs and that the amount would be determined following a hearing.

|2In the trial court’s reasons for granting a new trial, it found that the conduct of Honda’s counsel, in abusing the discovery process and making misrepresentations to the court, had resulted in an unfair trial for the plaintiffs. The court stated, in part, in its Reasons for Judgment:

In this ease, however, there was more than the usual acrimony among all counsel, beginning with the pre-trial motion to compel discovery between counsel for the plaintiffs and counsel for defendants, and continuing with the resistance to a continuance by both parties and the motions for sanctions brought by counsel for third party defendants against counsel for defendants. The court actually heard testimony on the motion for sanctions and had made a credibility determination against the defendants’ counsel, when the attorneys reached an agreement and the motion was withdrawn.
The court mentions the agreements and conduct between the attorneys to make a point. There is a difference between the business among attorneys and the business of the court. The court is not to be treated like an opponent, given only half truths and glib evasions. When the court asks an attorney to describe the nature of the testimony being offered and opposed, the attorney cannot fail to accurately describe that testimony to the court or state valid grounds for refusing the description.
Here, the court’s decision was necessarily dependent on information to be provided by the attorneys. The attorneys for defendants failed to adequately and accurately respond. The decision at issue involves a question of fundamental fairness to the litigants, just as the error with the test manual production involved a question of fairness. The plaintiffs did not have adequate notice or time to prepare against the testimony presented by McCarthy, just as they did not have the documents they requested. If the Court had known the true character of the testimony at issue, the testimony would not have been allowed, just as something else might have been done, if the correct documents had been produced.

(Emphasis added.) The judgment was signed on June 23,1995.

The Browns filed a Motion to Set Costs of the first trial. Subsequently, on July 28, 1995, they filed a Supplemental Motion to Set Costs and for Resetting of Motion to Set Costs. Honda filed oppositions to plaintiffs [1236]*1236Motions to Set Fees (sic) and to Set Costs on March 15,1996 and on May 16,1996, respectively. A hearing was held on May 21,1996, concerning the taxing of costs. At the hearing, the trial court asked counsel for the Browns to forward to her correspondence in which they were to itemize the costs sought by their motion and asked Honda’s counsel to submit to the court the Fee Schedule of Dr. Leighton E. Sissom, the expert employed by the Browns in ¡^preparing post-trial pleadings in this ease, in order to assist the court in determining the reasonableness of the hourly rates charged by the Brown’s expert, David Renfroe. Both parties complied.

On September 12,1996, the court rendered its written Reasons for Judgment, establishing the amount of the costs that were taxed against Honda, but did not sign the judgment at that time. On September 27,1996, Honda filed a Motion to Modify Reasons for Judgment Regarding Taxing of Costs. It requested that the trial court explain with more specificity the amount of costs which were awarded for each expense, the basis for each and the reasons for each award of costs. On October 29,1996, the trial court rendered written Modified Reasons for Judgment, and on October 30, 1996, both parties submitted proposed judgments. In their judgment, the Browns sought court costs in addition to the previously awarded $25, 271.96. On November 20, 1996, the trial court advised Honda’s counsel that it intended to issue Supplemental Reasons for Judgment which would award court costs plus the $25,271.96 already awarded and would allow the parties to depose the Clerk of Court concerning the court costs.

Honda filed an Application for Supervisory Writs concerning these issues on November 27, 1996. Subsequently, this court denied the writs, stating that a “judgment awarding court costs against defendants is a separately appealable judgment” in the circumstances of this case. On February 12, 1997, the trial court issued its Judgment, as below:

Depositions
Dori Ard, Court Reporter/Dr. Paul Guillory $ 35.00
Dori Ard, Court Reporter/Dr. Naalbandian 44.90
Assoc. Reporters/Dr. Stephen Flood 1,017.56
Videotaped deposition of Dr. Flood 462.00
Total $ 1,559.46
Expert Witness Fees (other than Dr. Renfroe)
Dr. Nelson $ 350.00
Dr. Ken Johnson 500.00
Dr. Stephen Flood 2,100.00
Dr. Arsham Naalbandian 400.00
Total $ 3,350.00
JjDb. Renfroe’s Expert Witness Fees
Travel $ 2,420.00
Project Plan 1,200.00
Case Review 350.00
Discovery/Dep Review 1,000.00
Deposition Preparation 2,950.00
Research 677.50
Test Preparation 2,065.00
Trial Preparation 7,700.00
Trial Testimony 2,000.00
Total $20,362.50
Grand Total $25,271.96

[1237]*1237From this judgment, Honda suspensively appeals.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

Honda claims the following assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred in taxing against it costs in the amount of $25,271.96 plus court costs, and
2. The trial court erred in ruling that this total amount was to be paid prior to the second trial in this case.

LAW

$25,271.96 and Court Costs

This is not a normal case in which an appellate court is asked to review the trial court’s decision in awarding costs.

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704 So. 2d 1234, 97 La.App. 3 Cir. 599, 1997 La. App. LEXIS 2786, 1997 WL 741985, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-american-honda-motor-co-lactapp-1997.