Prepare a schedule of taxable costs after judgment

Key facts

Human involvement

Yellow · Close supervision

How AI is used

From the invoices and the judgment the lawyer supplies, list each cost in a category named in 28 U.S.C. § 1920, with the amount and the invoice. Leave attorney's fees off the schedule. Do not file a bill of costs and do not state that the clerk will allow an item.

What the lawyer must review

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(1) provides that, unless a federal statute, the rules, or a court order provides otherwise, costs other than attorney's fees should be allowed to the prevailing party. Costs against the United States, its officers, and its agencies may be imposed only to the extent allowed by law. The clerk may tax costs on 14 days' notice. On a motion served within the next 7 days, the court may review the clerk's action. 28 U.S.C. § 1920 lists what a judge or clerk of a court of the United States may tax: fees of the clerk and marshal; fees for printed or electronically recorded transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case; fees and disbursements for printing and witnesses; fees for exemplification and the costs of making copies of any materials where the copies are necessarily obtained for use in the case; docket fees under section 1923; and compensation of court-appointed experts, interpreters, and special interpretation services under section 1828. A bill of costs is filed in the case and, upon allowance, included in the judgment or decree. Attorney's fees are claimed by motion under Rule 54(d)(2), not as items in this schedule, unless the substantive law requires them to be proved at trial as damages. The lawyer decides which items were necessarily obtained and files any bill. There is no lump-sum party-and-party cost scale in these provisions.

Written for / version

United States versionUS