Costs: Trial Judge Did Not Abuse His Discretion In Denying Routine Costs Award In Unlimited Case Where Prevailing Party Only Garnered Recovery Of $2,223.33 In Month-To-Month Rent Dispute

Chavez Case Discretion Is Not Limited To FEHA Matters.

            In Papavasiliou v. Equilon Enterprises LLC, Case No. G053611 (4^th Dist., Div. 3 Nov. 16, 2017) (unpublished), plaintiff in an unlimited civil case (alleging damages of $25,000 or more) did prevail on a month-to-month rental dispute to the tune of $2,223.33.  However, the trial judge denied plaintiff’s request for an award of routine costs.

            This denial was affirmed on appeal, in a 3-0 opinion authored by Justice Moore.  Code of Civil Procedure section 1033(a) provides a trial court with discretion to deny routine costs to a prevailing party in an unlimited civil case where the prevailing party could have recovered a judgment in a limited case ($25,000 or less in amount).  Chavez v. City of Los Angeles, 47 Cal.4^th 970 (2010) so reinforced in a FEHA context.  Losing party suggested Chavez was limited to a FEHA context, but the decision itself refuted this distinction.  (47 Cal.4^th at 987-988.)  So, no error in denying a costs award for a case which was brought as unlimited but only resulted in a limited case amount adjudication. 

            BLOG COMMENT—Kevin A. Day and Nitya N. Ram, both at AlvaradoSmith, were winning attorneys on Equilon’s behalf on appeal.