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Kimball Rules Against SCO on Motion to Stay Taxation of Costs

By Pamela Jones et al.

Another ruling [PDF] goes against SCO. Judge Dale Kimball has denied SCO's Motion to Stay Taxation of Costs [PDF]:

...the court does not believe that a party's speculation as to the possibility of the underlying judgment being reversed on appeal is a valid reason for delaying a determination of costs.

I discern the judge may just feel a measure of confidence his ruling will withstand appeal. And his new ruling on costs says that the judge sees no reason to delay figuring out the grand total SCO owes to Novell now, no matter what happens down the road.

If you can't remember what in the world this motion was about or what costs means, here's the page where you'll find SCO's motion, as text, as well as Novell's Bill of Costs. It totals $127,432.20, for costs such as hiring court reporters, renting rooms for depositions, paying video recording fees for depositions, process servers to serve subpoenas, court filing fees, and costs for transcripts -- everything Novell paid out for this stupid litigation, except attorneys' fees. It adds up. Litigation is expensive, and Novell applied for its costs to be covered, arguing that it is entitled to it because it is the prevailing party in the case. Of course, SCO fights everything it can and then some more, although here it was a bit unfinished. Novell filed its opposition to SCO's motion, and SCO didn't reply. That's odd. So the judge ruled on what he had before him, saying he couldn't see that oral argument was required, so if SCO was relying on that, they've missed out.

Full post as published by Groklaw on March 14, 2009 (boomark / email).