1/4 DCA Follows Ladas On The Computerized Legal Research Issue.
Kung v. Carthy, Case No. A161965 (1st Dist., Div. 4 May 3, 2023) (unpublished) considered whether computerized legal research costs and electronic hosting expenses (expenses not expressly approved by the trial judge) are reimbursable. Number 1 was decided to not be a reimbursable cost, although number 2 could be reimbursable in the discretion of the lower court.
The lower court denied allowing these items as reimbursable costs to the prevailing party.
The conclusion on electronic hosting expenses was reversed and remanded. The reason was that CCP ยง 1033.5(a)(15) did not automatically deny reimbursement, but allowed the lower court to decide whether these expenses were reimbursable in its discretion, relying on Segal v. ASICS America Corp.,12 Cal.5th 651, 665-667 (2022). The automatic denial had to be reversed and remanded so the lower court could exercise its discretion on this costs issue.
However, the conclusion on the legal computerized research issue was affirmed. It was supported by Ladas v. California State Auto. Assn., 19 Cal.App.4th 761, 776 (1993), with the Legislature never amending the routine costs statute to ameliorate this result. Beyond that, computerized legal research is akin to an attorney overhead expense for maintaining a law library, so the end result was correct.
Comments