Qayumi v. Duke Univ.

350 F. Supp. 3d 432
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedOctober 11, 2018
Docket1:16-CV-1038
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 350 F. Supp. 3d 432 (Qayumi v. Duke Univ.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Qayumi v. Duke Univ., 350 F. Supp. 3d 432 (M.D.N.C. 2018).

Opinion

Catherine C. Eagles, District Judge *434The plaintiff, Ariana Qayumi, asks the Court to review the taxation of costs by the Clerk. Specifically, she objects to the taxation of private subpoena service expenses, contending that private process server fees are not recoverable under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. The Court agrees that § 1920 does not permit taxation of fees for private process servers, and will direct the Clerk to exclude these expenses from the taxable costs.

1. BACKGROUND

After this Court granted summary judgment in favor of defendant Duke University, see Doc. 97, Duke filed a Bill of Costs in the amount of $7,385.17. Doc. 102. As is relevant here, Ms. Qayumi objected to $2,1451 in fees for private process servers.2 See Doc. 104; Doc. 106; Doc. 107 at 3. Duke contended it was entitled to these fees because they are allowed under this district's Local Rules. See LR 54.1(c)(1)(v) (allowing taxation of "[r]easonable costs for service by private process servers" as costs). The Clerk included these fees in the award of costs. Doc. 109 at 1.

2. LEGAL STANDARD

"Unless a federal statute, these rules, or a court order provides otherwise, costs-other than attorney's fees-should be allowed to the prevailing party." Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1). While this rule "creates the presumption that costs are to be awarded to the prevailing party," Cherry v. Champion Int'l Corp. , 186 F.3d 442, 446 (4th Cir. 1999), the decision to award costs is within the court's discretion. See Marx v. Gen. Revenue Corp. , 568 U.S. 371, 377, 133 S.Ct. 1166, 185 L.Ed.2d 242 (2013) ; see also Constantino v. Am. S/T Achilles , 580 F.2d 121, 123 (4th Cir. 1978).

The term "costs" as used in Rule 54(d) is defined by statute in 28 U.S.C. § 1920, Crawford Fitting Co. v. J. T. Gibbons, Inc. , 482 U.S. 437, 441-42, 107 S.Ct. 2494, 96 L.Ed.2d 385 (1987), which establishes six categories of recoverable costs.3 Courts have no discretion to expand the definition of "costs" beyond those specifically enumerated in 28 U.S.C. § 1920. See Crawford Fitting , 482 U.S. at 442, 107 S.Ct. 2494 (holding that Rule 54(d) provides courts with "a power to decline to tax, as costs, the items enumerated in § 1920" and provides no discretion to award costs not enumerated under § 1920 ).

Finally, costs should be limited to those reasonably necessary at the time *435they were incurred. Cf. LaVay Corp. v. Dominion Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n , 830 F.2d 522, 528 (4th Cir. 1987) ("A district court should award costs when the taking of a deposition is reasonably necessary at the time of its taking."). The prevailing party bears the burden of showing that costs are allowed by § 1920 ; once the prevailing party makes this showing, the burden shifts to the losing party to show the impropriety of the costs. Cofield v. Crumpler , 179 F.R.D. 510, 514 (E.D. Va. 1998). On motion after the clerk's taxation of costs, the court may review the clerk's actions de novo . See Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1) ; Mitchell-Tracey v. United Gen. Title Ins. Co. , 839 F.Supp.2d 821, 825 (D. Md. 2012).

3. ANALYSIS

The bulk of Duke's subpoenas were issued to obtain Ms. Qayumi's medical and educational records, which she did not produce in discovery. Her medical and education history were directly at issue in the case, and it was reasonable for Duke to obtain them by subpoena. Duke has presented evidence that the fees charged were reasonable and Ms. Qayumi has provided no evidence to the contrary. The Court finds that these fees were reasonable under the circumstances.

Because Duke's subpoenas were reasonable, the narrow legal issue before the Court is whether private process server fees are recoverable under § 1920(1), which provides that "[f]ees of the clerk and marshal" are taxable as costs. There is a longstanding circuit split on this issue, Schwarz & Schwarz of Va., LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's , No. 6:07-cv-00042, 2010 WL 452743, at *3 (W.D. Va. Feb. 8, 2010) (collecting cases), and the Fourth Circuit has not expressed its view-even, as best the Court can tell, in an unpublished decision.

The Eighth Circuit does not allow recovery of private process service fees as costs because § 1920 contains no provision for the taxation of those expenses.4 The Fifth Circuit also disallows taxation of private service fees, unless exceptional circumstances require the use of a private server.5

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
350 F. Supp. 3d 432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/qayumi-v-duke-univ-ncmd-2018.