Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 10, 2019
Docket1:12-cv-08115
StatusUnknown

This text of Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC (Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, (S.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

ENDO PHARMACEUTICALS INC. and

GRÜNENTHAL GMBH,

Plaintiffs, 12-CV-8115 (JPO)

-v-

AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS, LLC

and AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS

OF NEW YORK, LLC,

Defendants.

ENDO PHARMACEUTICALS INC.,

Plaintiff, 13-CV-3288 (JPO)

-v- OPINION AND ORDER

ROXANE LABORATORIES, INC., Defendant.

J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge: After judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiff Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Endo”) in these two patent cases, Endo sought to recover $48,123.83 in costs from Defendants Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC and Amneal Pharmaceuticals of New York, LLC (together, “Amneal”) and $61,379.09 in costs from Defendant Roxane Laboratories, Inc. (“Roxane”). (No. 12 Civ. 8115 (“Amneal”), Dkt. No. 189-1 at 1; No. 13 Civ. 3288 (“Roxane”), Dkt. No. 244-1 at 1.) But the Clerk of Court awarded Endo only part of what it had asked for, taxing $7,759.03 in costs against Amneal and $13,676.33 in costs against Roxane. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 192 at 1; Roxane, Dkt. No. 247 at 1.) Endo now moves to appeal these decisions. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 195; Roxane, Dkt. No. 250.) For the following reasons, Endo’s motions are granted in part and denied in part. I. Background In these two related cases, Endo, a pharmaceutical company, raised claims of patent infringement against generic drug manufacturers Amneal and Roxane. Endo Pharm. Inc. v. Amneal Pharm., LLC, No. 12 Civ. 8115, 2015 WL 9459823, at *2–3 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 18, 2015). The cases were tried jointly, along with seven others, in a five-week bench trial before the late

Judge Thomas P. Griesa in the spring of 2015. Id. at *2. At the conclusion of the trial, Judge Griesa held that the defendants had infringed or would infringe certain of Endo’s patents. Id. Accordingly, the court “enter[ed] judgment in Endo’s favor and enjoin[ed] defendants from making or selling their [infringing] products prior to the expiration” of the patents at issue. Id. at *66. The Federal Circuit affirmed, see Endo Pharm. Inc. v. Teva Pharm. USA, Inc., 731 F. App’x 962 (Fed. Cir. 2018),1 and the mandate issued on June 29, 2018 (Amneal, Dkt. Nos. 186– 87; Roxane, Dkt. Nos. 241–42). On remand, Endo filed bills of costs with the Clerk of Court, seeking $48,123.83 in costs from Amneal and $61,379.09 in costs from Roxane. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 189-1; Roxane, Dkt. No. 244-1.) Amneal and Roxane both objected, arguing that Endo was not entitled to any costs or, in

the alternative, that Endo was entitled to only a portion of the costs it sought. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 190; Roxane, Dkt. No. 245.) On August 31, 2018, the Clerk determined that Endo was entitled to recover costs, but only in the amount of $7,759.03 from Amneal and $13,676.33 from Roxane. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 192 at 1; Roxane, Dkt. No. 247 at 1.) Endo now seeks review of the Clerk’s decisions on the taxation of costs. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 195; Roxane, Dkt. No. 250.) First, Endo argues that it is entitled to an additional $30,647.87

1 The Federal Circuit has since vacated its opinion in part, but only with respect to a discrete issue that has no bearing on the issues presently before the Court. Endo Pharm. Inc. v. Teva Pharm. USA, Inc., 729 F. App’x 936 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (per curiam). from each of Roxane and Amneal to recover costs incurred in connection with the preparation and display of certain demonstrative graphics presented at trial. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 196 (“Endo Br.”) at 2–5.) Second, Endo argues that it is entitled to an additional $831.31 from Amneal and an additional $1,660.06 from Roxane to recover certain costs incurred in connection with

specified depositions. (Endo Br. at 5–8.) The parties have now briefed these issues (Amneal, Dkt. Nos. 196, 198, 201; Roxane, Dkt. Nos. 251, 253, 255), and the Court is prepared to rule. II. Legal Standard Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1) provides that, in the usual case, “costs—other than attorney’s fees—should be allowed to the prevailing party” in a lawsuit. Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1); see also Choi v. City of New York, No. 10 Civ. 6617, 2013 WL 1387021, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 5, 2013) (noting that an award of costs “against the losing party is the normal rule obtaining in civil litigation” (quoting Whitfield v. Scully, 241 F.3d 264, 270 (2d Cir. 2001), abrogated on other grounds, Bruce v. Samuels, 136 S. Ct. 627 (2016))). And 28 U.S.C. § 1920 (“Section 1920”), in turn, “defines the term ‘costs’ as used in Rule 54(d).” Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 441 (1987). Taxable costs under Section 1920 include, as

relevant, “[f]ees for printed or electronically recorded transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case,” 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2), and “[f]ees for exemplification and the costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are necessarily obtained for use in the case,” id. § 1920(4). Typically, it is the Clerk of Court who first taxes a prevailing party’s costs. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1). But once the Clerk has done so, either party may move for the court to review the Clerk’s decision on costs. Id. When faced with such a motion, “[a] district court reviews the clerk’s taxation of costs by exercising its own discretion to decide the cost question itself.” Choi, 2013 WL 1387021, at *2 (quoting Whitfield, 241 F.3d at 269). In conducting its review, a court must be mindful that specific “[i]tems proposed by winning parties as costs should always be given careful scrutiny,” Palm Bay Int’l, Inc. v. Marchesi Di Barolo S.P.A., 285 F.R.D. 225, 234 (E.D.N.Y. 2012) (quoting Farmer v. Arabian Am. Oil Co., 379 U.S. 227, 235 (1964)), and that the party seeking costs bears the burden of establishing that each expense it seeks to recover “fall[s] within an allowable category of taxable costs,” Nat. Organics, Inc. v. Nutraceutical

Corp., No. 01 Civ. 384, 2009 WL 2424188, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 6, 2009) (quoting Patterson v. McCarron, No. 99 Civ. 11078, 2005 WL 735954, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2005)). III. Discussion As noted, Endo moves to recover two categories of cost that the Clerk declined to award: (1) costs related to certain trial demonstratives and (2) costs associated with certain depositions. The Court addresses each of these categories in turn.2 A. Trial Demonstratives Endo first challenges the Clerk’s decision to disallow two invoices, together totaling $273,742.50, for the preparation of graphics to be used at trial, as well as an invoice totaling $2,088.22 for the rental of equipment that was used to display those graphics at trial. (Endo Br. at 2–5; see also Amneal, Dkt. No. 192 at 9, 134–54; Roxane, Dkt. No. 247 at 9, 134–54.) Endo

maintains that the resultant total of $275,830.72 is indeed taxable under Rule 54 and that, after

2 In opposing Endo’s motions, Amneal and Roxane briefly renew their argument that Endo is not entitled to any costs. (Amneal, Dkt. No. 198 at 2.) But Amneal and Roxane have not themselves moved to appeal the Clerk’s decisions, which granted Endo some (though not all) of its requested costs.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co.
379 U.S. 227 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Crawford Fitting Co. v. J. T. Gibbons, Inc.
482 U.S. 437 (Supreme Court, 1987)
United States v. Williams
553 U.S. 285 (Supreme Court, 2008)
Hairline Creations, Inc. v. Diane Kefalas
664 F.2d 652 (Seventh Circuit, 1981)
Taniguchi v. Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd.
132 S. Ct. 1997 (Supreme Court, 2012)
Shannon v. Fireman's Fund Insurance
156 F. Supp. 2d 279 (S.D. New York, 2001)
DiBella v. Hopkins
407 F. Supp. 2d 537 (S.D. New York, 2005)
Anderson v. City of New York
132 F. Supp. 2d 239 (S.D. New York, 2001)
LeBlanc-Sternberg v. Fletcher
143 F.3d 748 (Second Circuit, 1998)
Bruce v. Samuels
577 U.S. 82 (Supreme Court, 2016)
Broadspring, Inc. v. Nashed
683 F. App'x 13 (Second Circuit, 2017)
Perry v. Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority
236 F.R.D. 110 (E.D. New York, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/endo-pharmaceuticals-inc-v-amneal-pharmaceuticals-llc-nysd-2019.