(a) Assessment of Jury Costs. Where a civil case set for jury trial is settled or otherwise
disposed of, notice of such agreement or disposition shall be filed in the Clerk’s Office at least
24 hours before the date on which the case is set; otherwise juror costs, including service fees,
mileage, and per diem, shall be assessed equally against the parties and their counsel or
otherwise assessed as directed by the Court, except for good cause shown. Where a continuance
of a case is applied for on the day set for trial and granted by the Court, the payment of juror
costs by the party applying for the continuance may be one of the conditions of the continuance,
unless the continuance was not due to any fault of the moving party.
(b) Taxation of Costs.
(1) Entitlement. Costs shall be taxed as provided in Rule 54(d)(1) of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure. Unless otherwise ordered, the Court will not determine the
party entitled to costs in an action terminated by settlement; the parties must reach
agreement regarding entitlement to taxation of costs or bear their own costs.
(2) Time for Filing. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, a Bill of Costs shall be
filed and served within thirty (30) days of the entry of judgment, the entry of an order
denying a motion filed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(b), 52(b), or 59, or an order remanding
to state court any removed action. Non-compliance with this time limit shall be deemed a
waiver of costs.
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(3) Contents. The Bill of Costs must state separately and specifically each item of
taxable costs claimed. It must be supported by a memorandum setting forth the grounds
and authorities supporting the request and an affidavit that the costs claimed are correctly
stated, were necessarily incurred, and are allowable by law. The affidavit must also
contain a representation that counsel met and conferred in an effort to resolve any
disputes about the claimed costs, and the prevailing party shall state the results of such a
conference, or that the prevailing party made a good faith effort to arrange such a
conference, setting forth the reasons the conference was not held. Parties may use the
Bill of Costs Form, which is available from the Clerk’s Office and the Court’s website.
Any vouchers, bills, or other documents supporting the costs being requested shall be
attached as exhibits.
(4) Objections. Within fourteen (14) days after a Bill of Costs is filed, the party
against whom costs are claimed must file and serve any specific objections, succinctly
setting forth the grounds and authorities for each objection. Upon the timely filing of any
objections, the Clerk of Court will refer both the Bill of Costs and objections to the Court
for a determination of taxable costs. If no such objection is filed within the required time,
the Clerk of Court may without notice or hearing tax all of the requested costs.
(5) Review. Taxation of costs may be reviewed by the court upon motion filed and
served within seven (7) days after taxation by the clerk, in accordance with Fed. R. Civ.
P. 54(d)(1).
(6) Items Taxable as Costs. Costs are taxed in conformity with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1821,
1920-1925, and other applicable statutes, with the following clarifications:
(A) Fees for the service of process and service of subpoenas by someone
other than the marshal are allowable, to the extent they are reasonably required
and actually incurred.
(B) The cost of a stenographic and/or video original and one copy of any
deposition transcript necessarily obtained for use in the case is allowable. A
deposition need not be introduced in evidence or used at trial, so long as, at the
time it was taken, it could reasonably be expected that the deposition would be
used for trial preparation, rather than mere discovery. The expenses of counsel
for attending depositions are not allowable.
(C) Per diem, subsistence, and mileage payments for witnesses are allowable
to the extent reasonably necessary and provided for by 28 U.S.C. § 1821. Unless
otherwise provided by law, fees for expert witnesses are not taxable in an amount
greater than that statutorily allowable for ordinary witnesses.
(D) The cost of copies necessarily obtained for use in the case is taxable
provided the party seeking recovery submits an affidavit describing the
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documents copied, the number of pages copied, the cost per page, and the use of
or intended purpose for the items copied. As of the effective date of these rules,
the practice of this court is to allow taxation of copies at $.15 per page or the
actual cost charged by commercial copiers, provided such charges are reasonable.
The cost of copies obtained for the use and/or convenience of the party seeking
recovery and its counsel is not taxable.
(E) Electronic or computer research costs are not taxable.
(F) Fees paid to the clerk of the territorial court prior to removal are taxable
in this court, unless the removed case is remanded back to the territorial court.
(c) Motion for Attorney’s Fees and Related Non-taxable Expenses
(1) Contents. A motion for attorney’s fees and related nontaxable expenses shall
specify the applicable judgment and statutory or contractual authority entitling the
moving party to the requested award and the amount of attorney’s fees and related non-
taxable expenses sought. In addition, the moving party shall file a memorandum in
support and an affidavit of counsel.
(2) Memorandum in Support. The memorandum in support shall set forth the nature
of the case; the claims as to which the moving party prevailed; the claims as to which the
moving party did not prevail; the applicable authority entitling the moving party to the
requested award; a description of the work performed by each attorney and paralegal,
broken down by hours or fractions thereof expended on each task; the attorney’s
customary fee for like work; any additional factors required by case law; a listing, in
sufficient detail to enable the Court to rule on the reasonableness of the request, of any
expenditures for which reimbursement is sought; any additional factors that are required
by case law; and any additional factors the moving party wishes to bring to the Court’s
attention.
(A) Description of Services Rendered. The party seeking an award of fees
must describe adequately the services rendered, so that the reasonableness of the
requested fees can be evaluated. In describing such services, counsel should be
sensitive to matters giving rise to attorney-client privilege and attorney work
product doctrine but must nevertheless furnish an adequate non-privileged
description of the services in question. If the time descriptions are incomplete, or
if such descriptions fail to describe adequately the services rendered, the Court
may reduce the award accordingly. For example, time entries for telephone
conferences must include an identification of all participants and the reason for
the call; entries for legal research must include an identification of the specific
issue researched and, if possible, should identify the pleading or document for
which the research was necessary; entries describing the preparation of pleadings
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and other papers must include an identification of the pleading or other document
prepared and the activities associated with such preparation.
(B) Description of Expenses Incurred. In addition to identifying each
requested non-taxable expense, the moving party shall set forth the applicable
authority entitling the moving party to such expense and should attach copies of
invoices and receipts, if possible.
(3) Affidavit of Counsel. The affidavit of counsel shall include:
(A) a brief description of the relevant qualifications, experience and case-
related contributions of each attorney and paralegal for whom fees are claimed,
as well as any other factors relevant to establishing the reasonableness of the
requested rates;
(B) a statement that the affiant has reviewed and approved the time and
charges set forth in the itemization of work performed and that the time spent and
expenses incurred were reasonable and necessary under the circumstances; and
(C) a statement identifying all adjustments, if any, made in the course of
exercising “billing judgment.”
(4) Responsive and Reply Memoranda. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, any
opposing party may file a responsive memorandum within fourteen (14) days after
service of the statement of consultation. The responsive memorandum in opposition to a
motion for attorney’s fees and related non-taxable expenses shall identify with specificity
all disputed issues of law and fact, each disputed time entry, and each disputed expense
item. The moving party, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, may file a reply
memorandum within seven (7) days after service of the responsive memorandum.
Thereafter, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the motion and supporting and
opposing memoranda will be taken under advisement and a ruling will be issued without
a hearing.
