Costs: Order Awarding Or Taxing Costs After Voluntary Dismissal Without Prejudice Is Appealable, With 4/2 DCA Agreeing With 4/3 DCA In Split Of Opinion On Subject

However, Costs Award Against Plaintiff’s Counsel Was Void Because Routine Costs Not Normally Allowable Against Counsel.

            The 4/2 DCA, in Gassner v. Stasa, Case No. E068058 (4^th Dist., Div. 2 Dec. 17, 2018) (partially published), faced a situation where a trial judge awarded costs jointly and severally against a plaintiff and plaintiff’s counsel after a voluntary dismissal without prejudice. (The amount was only $2,698.91, but someone got riled.) The 4/2 DCA resolved a split in intermediate appellate thinking on whether a costs award or award taxing costs is appealable following a “without prejudice” voluntary dismissal. It had to confront Mon Chong Loong Trading Corp. v. Superior Court, 218 Cal.App.4^th 87, 92 (2013) [saying non-appealable] and Mesa Shopping Center East, LLC v. O Hill, 232 Cal.App.4^th 890, 897-899 (2014) [saying appealable, a 4/3 DCA opinion reviewed in our December 28, 2014 post]. Gassner agreed with Mesa Shopping Center, finding it was appealable. However, because routine costs could not be awarded against plaintiff’s counsel, the costs award was found void and reversed against counsel in an unpublished portion of the opinion.