Rule 501 Taxation of Costs

(a) Civil cases. —

(1) Filing of Certificate of Costs. — Within 20 days after entry of the final judgment allowing costs to the prevailing party, a certificate of costs shall be filed and copy served upon opposing counsel. The certificate shall be itemized. For witness fees, the certificate shall contain:

(A) The name of the witness;

(B) Place of residence, or the place where subpoenaed, or the place to which the witness voluntarily traveled without a subpoena to attend;

(C) The number of full days or half days the witness actually testified in court;

(D) The number of days or half days the witness traveled to and from the place of trial;

(E) The exact number of miles traveled;

(F) The manner of travel, air, railroad, bus or private vehicle; and,

(G) If common carrier transportation is used, the price of an economy fare.

(2) Objections to Certificate of Costs. — If no objections are served within 10 days after service of the certificate of costs, the costs shall be taxed as set forth in the certificate of costs. If objections are filed, the court shall consider the objections and tax costs. A hearing may be provided at the discretion of the court.

(3) Allowable Costs.

(A) Filing fees, jury demand fees and fees for services of process. (W.S. 18-3-608 sets forth sheriff fees.)

(B) Witness fees.

(i) Witness fees are allowed at the rate of $30.00 per day and $15.00 per half day necessarily spent traveling to and from the proceeding and in attendance at the proceeding. Mileage is allowed at the rate of $.23 per mile, not to exceed the costs of common carrier transportation rates.

(ii) Expert witness fees shall be allowed at the rate of $25.00 per day or such other amount as the court may allow according to the circumstances of the case. If the amount allowed constitutes a higher hourly rate than $25.00 per day, this higher amount is allowable only for the time that the expert witness actually testified. Time charged in preparation for providing testimony and/or standing by awaiting the call to give testimony is not allowable as costs, except at the rate of $25.00 per day.

(C) Reporter fees. The $45.00 fee is a taxable cost. Transcripts of proceedings, such as motion hearings, pretrial conferences, etc., prepared at the request of a party in anticipation of trial are not taxable as costs unless such matters become part of the record on appeal.

(D) Costs of depositions.

(i) Costs of depositions are taxable if reasonably necessary for the preparation of the case for trial. A deposition is deemed reasonably necessary if: I. Read to the jury as provided in Rule 32(a)(3), W.R.C.P.; II. Used at trial for impeachment concerning a material line of testimony (impeachment on a collateral issue does not fall within the scope of this rule); III. Necessarily, and not merely conveniently, used to refresh the recollection of a witness while on the stand; or, IV. Was taken at the request of a nonprevailing party. The foregoing are meant to provide guidelines, and are not exhaustive. The use of depositions for trial preparation alone does not justify the imposition of costs.

(ii) Reporters fees for depositions. Actual, ordinary reporting fees will be allowed. Extra costs for expediting transcripts or daily copy costs will not be allowed, except as authorized by an order entered prior to the date such costs are to be incurred. Reporters’ travel, per diem expenses and appearance fees will not be taxed as costs.

(iii) Fees and expenses of counsel. Fees and expenses of counsel for traveling to and attending depositions are not taxable as costs.

(E) Copies of papers. Duplicating costs necessarily incurred for documents admitted into evidence shall be allowed. Duplication costs for documents for counsel’s own use are not allowable.

(F) Exhibits received in evidence. The expense of preparing exhibits received in evidence, including 8 by 11 photographs (but not enlargements) videotapes, models and other demonstrative evidence are allowable as taxable costs at the discretion of the court.

(4) Other Costs Not Enumerated. — These rules do not preclude the award of other costs not enumerated herein if otherwise allowable under law; nor do they require the award of costs as they may be denied altogether if the court, through the exercise of its discretion, so determines. Moreover, to the extent that W.S. 1-14-125 limits costs, that statute is controlling. However, costs associated with the offer of judgment rule, i.e. Rule 68, W.R.C.P., must be awarded.

(5) Apportionment. — All costs may be apportioned among some or all of the non-prevailing parties as the court may determine.

(b) Criminal cases. —

(1) Allowable Costs.

(A) Non-expert witness fees as set forth in Rule 17(c)(1), W.R.Cr.P., are allowed: $30.00 for each full day and $15.00 for each half day necessarily spent traveling to and from the proceeding and in attendance at the proceeding. Mileage is allowed as provided in subdivision (a)(3)(B)(i).

(B) Expert witness fees are allowed as set forth in W.S. 1-14-102(b).

(C) The general standards as applicable to costs in civil cases will be applied, including witness fees, service fees and fees for depositions when actually used.

(2) Assessment of Costs Upon Defendant. — Payment of the costs of prosecution may be added to and made a part of the sentence in any felony case if the court determines that the defendant has an ability to pay or that a reasonable probability exists that the defendant will have an ability to pay. Applicability. — The parties’ agreement to an allocation of costs is not subject to the provisions of this rule. Snyder v. Lovercheck, 99 P.2d 1079, 1999 Wyo. LEXIS 188 (Wyo. 1999). Expert witness fees properly awarded. — The prevailing defendant was entitled to expert witness fees, notwithstanding that the defendant failed to set forth the number of full or half days the expert spent on the matter and price of economy airfare, since the use of hours instead of days goes to the computation of the amount of the costs and not to the propriety of the underlying claim, and the plaintiff offered no argument that the amount awarded for the expert was incorrectly calculated. Snyder v. Lovercheck, 2001 WY 64, 27 P.3d 695, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 77 (Wyo. 2001). Deposition expenses. — The prevailing defendants were entitled to recover discovery depositions taken by them where, beyond citing the four guidelines in the rule, under subdivision (a)(3)(D)(i) the plaintiff made no argument that the depositions were not otherwise reasonably necessary. Snyder v. Lovercheck, 2001 WY 64, 27 P.3d 695, 2001 Wyo. LEXIS 77 (Wyo. 2001). District court erred in awarding costs incurred in a deposition because the record did not reflect any justification for an award of costs for the deposition beyond the bald assertion in the certificate of costs that the deposition was used at trial and the costs were actually and necessarily incurred. Given this dearth of justification, the district court failed to act reasonably in awarding those costs. Wilson v. Tyrrell, 2011 WY 7, 246 P.3d 265, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 8 (Wyo. 2011). The district court did not abuse its discretion in awarding deposition costs under subdivision

(a) (3)(D)(i)(I-IV); the district court found that the costs of the depositions were reasonable and necessary in defending the action and were required for trial preparation, and defendants made use of the transcript of one of the depositions for impeachment during cross examination at trial. Gore v. Sherard, 2002 WY 114, 50 P.3d 705, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 120 (Wyo. 2002). Reporting fees. — The district court erred in awarding appearance fees for court reporters at depositions which is contrary to the mandatory language of subdivision (a)(3)(D)(ii). Gore v. Sherard, 2002 WY 114, 50 P.3d 705, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 120 (Wyo. 2002). Mediation costs. — Mediation costs are not an allowable cost under the rule, which provides that a cost not enumerated in the rule may be awarded if otherwise allowable under law; plaintiff cited to no Wyoming authority allowing an award of costs for mediation costs, and there was no error in the district court’s ruling. Stocki v. Nunn, 2015 WY 75, 351 P.3d 911, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 88 (Wyo. 2015). Nominal damages. — In consolidated civil actions involving ownership disputes among neighboring landowners, the district court’s award to appellees of $1,500 as nominal damages and to aid them in the cost of erecting a boundary fence was reversed because there were no findings of fact in the record from which it could be determined how much of the award was for nominal damages and how much was for fence construction. Bellis v. Kersey, 2010 WY 138, 241 P.3d 818, 2010 Wyo. LEXIS 147 (Wyo. 2010). Agreement to pay attorney fees and costs. — Parties to an agreement are free to bargain for payment of costs, just as they can bargain for payment of attorney’s fees, and the parties’ agreement to an allocation of costs is not subject to the provisions of this rule. Dewey v. Wentland, 2002 WY 2, 38 P.3d 402, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 2 (Wyo. 2002).