NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS: MOTION TO STRIKE — OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO TAX COSTS [DEFT] JOHN WILLIAMS
RULING Motion to Strike Cost Memorandum
Defendant’s motion to strike the memorandum of costs is DENIED. In Meleski V. Estate of Albert Hotlen (2018) 29 Cal.App.5‘h 616, the court agreed that plaintiff was entitled to recover her costs even though the statute at issue limited the recovery of damages. As relevant, the Court wrote:
Probate Code section 554. . .does not provide that a plaintiff may not recover costs in excess of the policy limits from the insurer for failure to accept a reasonable offer of compromise.
Probate Code section 554 limits damages to the amount of the policy limit. But, costs are not damages. “It is established that the right to costs is statutory and that costs ‘are allowed solely as an incident of the judgment given upon the issues in the action. They constitute no part of a judgment at the moment of its rendition. .,.”’
Costs recoverable under section 998 a
Hearing Date
March 17, 2020
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NATURE OF PROCEEDINGS: MOTION TO STRIKE — OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO TAX COSTS [DEFT] JOHN WILLIAMS
RULING Motion to Strike Cost Memorandum
Defendant’s motion to strike the memorandum of costs is DENIED. In Meleski V. Estate of Albert Hotlen (2018) 29 Cal.App.5‘h 616, the court agreed that plaintiff was entitled to recover her costs even though the statute at issue limited the recovery of damages. As relevant, the Court wrote:
Probate Code section 554. . .does not provide that a plaintiff may not recover costs in excess of the policy limits from the insurer for failure to accept a reasonable offer of compromise.
Probate Code section 554 limits damages to the amount of the policy limit. But, costs are not damages. “It is established that the right to costs is statutory and that costs ‘are allowed solely as an incident of the judgment given upon the issues in the action. They constitute no part of a judgment at the moment of its rendition. .,.”’
Costs recoverable under section 998 a