Costs: Where Successor Trustee Had To Join Parties Ultimately Dismissed To Obtain Possession Of Premises, Routine Costs Were Properly Awarded To Trustee For Activities Relating To the Dismissed Defendants

Prevailing Party Determination Is Pragmatic On Costs Awards As Well.

            Successor trustee in Sutherland v. Arent, Case No. A161411 (1^st Dist., Div. 1 June 14, 2022) (unpublished) was awarded costs after she finally obtained possession to a rental cabin by including dismissed defendants, with the dismissed defendants relinquishing possession to the trustee.  The primary defendants argued that they should not be saddled with routine costs relating to activities associated with the dismissed defendants.  The appellate court disagreed, holding that costs associated with a dismissed defendant are recoverable against remaining defendants where the remaining defendants’ actions made it necessary to add the dismissed defendants as parties.  (Transamerica Title Ins. Co. v. Green (1970) 11 Cal.App.3d 693, 704; Davis v. Wilde (1961) 197 Cal.App.2d 855, 857.)