Judge: Jon R. Takasugi, Case: 20STCV11859, Date: 2022-08-25 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV11859    Hearing Date: August 25, 2022    Dept: 17

Superior Court of California

County of Los Angeles

DEPARTMENT 17

TENTATIVE RULING

            Defendants’ motion to tax costs is DENIED.

On March 25, 2020, Plaintiffs Vokshori Law Group and N. Stephen Vokshori filed suit against Defendants Jimmy Eiselstein, Alejandra Eiselstein, Michele A. Dobson, and the Law Offices of Michele A. Dobson, alleging malicious prosecution.

            Now, Defendants Dobson and the Law Offices of Michele A. Dobson (collectively, Defendants) move to tax costs.

Discussion

            Defendants argue that Plaintiff Vokshori should not be entitled to fees or costs because he is a self-represented attorney, and because the Court can correct its error in awarding attorney fees by denying the costs to Vokshori.

            However, there are a number of issues with Defendants’ arguments.

            First, Defendants’ contention that Vokshori was not entitled to recover attorney fees is moot. Defendants had multiple opportunities to properly challenge Vokshori’s entitlement to attorney fees, yet failed to do so. In their opposition to Defendant Vokshori’s motion for attorney fees, Defendants did not raise any argument that the award was improper because Defendant, an attorney, was representing himself in pro per. As such, this argument was not brought to the Court’s attention and thus was not considered in the ruling. After the ruling, Defendants did not move for reconsideration. While Defendants later appealed the decision, that appeal was dismissed after Defendant Dobson was found to be in default.  There is no indication that the appeal was ever refiled. Accordingly, the time has passed for Defendants to argue the merits of an attorney fees award—Defendants did not raise the argument in opposition to the attorney fees motion, did not move for reconsideration, and abandoned their own appeal.

            Second, the “eligibility to recover costs excluding attorney fees is not dependent on eligibility to recover attorney fees.” (Leiper v. Gallegos (2021) 69 Cal.App.5th 284, 297.) While Defendants’ case law sets forth a basis for denying attorney fees to a self-represented attorney, Defendants did not set forth any authority which addressed the award of costs.  In Leiper, the Court expressly held that an attorney acting in propria persona was not barred from recovering legitimate, reasonable costs. (Leiper, supra, 69 Cal.App.5th at p. 297.)

            Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ motion to tax costs is denied.

It is so ordered.

Dated:  August    , 2022

   Hon. Jon R. Takasugi
   Judge of the Superior Court

Parties who intend to submit on this tentative must send an email to the court at smcdept17@lacourt.org by 4 p.m. the day prior as directed by the instructions provided on the court website at www.lacourt.org.  If a party submits on the tentative, the party’s email must include the case number and must identify the party submitting on the tentative.  If all parties to a motion submit, the court will adopt this tentative as the final order.  If the department does not receive an email indicating the parties are submitting on the tentative and there are no appearances at the hearing, the motion may be placed off calendar. 

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