Costs: Referee’s Costs Were Awardable In Partnership Damages/Accounting Dispute

 

Fourth District, Division 1 Sustains Award of Referee’s Costs to Prevailing Party.

     In Behne v. Chodur, Case Nos. D052416/D053551 (Sept. 24, 2009) (unpublished), a brother and sister unfortunately got into a partnership damages/accounting donnybrook. An accounting referee was appointed by the court to determine the net proceeds of several real estate projects involved in the overall action. Brother lost, with the lower court eventually awarding sister $38,220 in costs, representing her share of the referee’s fees. Brother, being unhappy, appealed.

     The referee’s fees were found to be a proper item of costs assessed against brother. As a court appointed assistant, the referee’s fees were an item to be borne by the losing party. (DeBlase v. Superior Court, 41 Cal.App.4^th 1279, 1285 (1996).) Beyond this general rule, Code of Civil Procedure section 1033.5(c)(4) allows the court discretion to award costs items not mentioned in the section, a catchall provision that also was a proper basis for including referee’s fees as an item of costs.