Howard v. College of the Albemarle et al
Filing
114
ORDER granting 103 Motion for Bill of Costs; granting 104 Motion for Taxation of Costs. Costs taxed in the amount of $5741.35 against Plaintiff. Signed by Peter A. Moore, Jr., Clerk of Court on 8/29/2017. Sent to Robert Howard at 309 N Estes Drive Chapel Hill, NC 27514 via US Mail. (Briggeman, N.)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
NORTHERN DIVISION
No. 2:15-CV-39-D
ROBERT HOWARD,
Plaintiff,
v.
COLLEGE OF THE ALBEMARLE and
KANDI DEITEMEYER,
Defendants.
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ORDER ON BILL OF COSTS
This matter is before the clerk on the applications for costs [DE-103; DE-104] filed by
defendants College of the Albemarle and Kandi Deitemeyer. Plaintiff has not filed a motion to
disallow the costs and the time to do so has passed. For the reasons set forth below, the applications
for costs [DE-103; DE-104] are granted.
BACKGROUND
In an order filed March 27, 2017 [DE-101], the court, inter alia, granted defendants'
motion for summary judgment. Judgment was entered in favor of defendants that same day [DE102]. Defendants timely filed their applications for costs [DE-103; DE-104].
DISCUSSION
Defendants seek costs under Rule 54(d)(l) as the prevailing party in this action. See Fed.
R. Civ. P. 54(d)(l) ("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."). Federal courts
may assess only those costs listed in 28 U.S.C. § 1920. See Arlington Cent. Sch. Bd. of Educ. v.
Murphy, 548 U.S. 291, 301 (2006); Crawford Fitting Co. v. J.T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U.S. 437, 44142 (1987), superseded on other grounds by statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Local Civil Rule 54.1
"further refines the scope ofrecoverable costs." Earp v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., No. 5: 11CV-680-D, 2014 WL 4105678, at *1 (E.D.N.C. Aug. 19, 2014). In this case, defendants seek
recovery of $5,741.35 in costs from plaintiff.
First, defendants seek reimbursement in the amount of $400.00 for the filing fee and
administrative fee they paid when removing the action to this court from state court. Title 28,
United States Code Section 1920(1) provides that fees of the clerk may be taxed, and accordingly
this request is granted.
Second, defendants request costs associated with deposition transcripts. Fees for printed
or electronically recorded transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case may be taxed as costs.
28 U.S.C. § 1920(2). Defendants submit court reporter invoices for the transcript of the deposition
of plaintiff, and the deposition transcripts of six witnesses deposed by plaintiff. Defendants
observe that Local Civil Rule 54.l(c)(l)(a) specifies that "taxable costs incident to the taking of
depositions normally include only the court reporter's fee and the fee for the original transcript of
the deposition." Defendants note that the deposition transcripts of the witnesses deposed by
plaintiff are technically not "original" transcripts-those would have been provided to plaintiffbut that this court has previously construed Local Civil Rule 54.l(c)(l)(a) as allowing an award of
costs for "duplicate originals." See House v. Fed. Home Loan Mortg. Corp., No. 4:14-CV-129D, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17707, (E.D.N.C. Dec. 22, 2016); Perry v. Pamlico Cnty., No. 4:13CV-107-D, 2015 WL 6393252, at *1 (E.D.N.C. Oct. 19, 2015). See also Rowleyv. City ofNorth
Myrtle Beach, Civil Action Nos. 4:07-1636-TLW-TER; 4:06-1873-TLW-TER, 2010 WL
3783453, at *1 (D.S.C. Sept. 21, 2010) (construing an identical local rule to allow the award of
costs for a duplicate transcript of a deposition taken by the non-prevailing party). In light of this
case law, and because all of the transcripts were cited by defendants in either the briefing on the
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defendant's motion for summary judgment or the briefing on plaintiffs motion to depose
witnesses, the undersigned finds that the transcripts were necessarily obtained for use in the case.
Defendants are awarded $5,341.35 in costs associated with deposition transcripts.
CONCLUSION
In summary, as the prevailing parties, defendants are awarded $400 in fees of the clerk
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1920(1) and $5,341.35 in transcript costs pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1920(2).
Total costs in the amount of $5,741.35 are taxed against plaintiff and shall be included in the
judgment.
SO ORDERED. This the
J. qday of August, 2017.
Peter A. Moore, Jr.
Clerk of Court
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