Personal Injury Law

Important New California Case Helps Prevailing Injury Victims; Could Lead to Abuse

By Ross Jurewitz

Prevailing parties just received help from the California Court of Appeals in obtaining full cost reimbursement after judgment.

In El Dorado Meat Co. v. Yosemite Meat and Locker Service, No. F049334, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a trial court's ruling to award Yosemite Meat (as the prevailing party), nearly $150,000 in costs pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) Section 1033.5(a)(12).

The facts of the case are these:

El Dorado filed suit against Yosemite Meat alleging a variety of causes of action, including violations of the California Unfair Competition Law . The lawsuit arose from El Dorado's claims that Yosemite Meats fraudulently sold boar meat to otherwise unsuspecting customers and illegally reduced their labor costs by employing undocumented immigrants. El Dorado claimed that these actions led it to be uncompetitive in the market and drove it out of business.

After trial before a jury (for some causes of action) and the court (for others), the court found in favor of Yosemite and entered judgment in favor of Yosemite.

As the prevailing party, Yosemite Meats served and filed a memorandum of costs seeking to recover $194,704. El Dorado filed a motion to strike and tax costs pertaining to Yosemite Meat's attempt to recover $143,809 for "models, blowups, and photocopies of exhibits."

Full post as published by San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog on May 09, 2007 (boomark / email).