JAMES MITCHELL AND ERNESTINE MITCHELL, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HUSBAND AND WIFE, APPELLANTS,
v.
OSCEOLA FARMS CO., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, AND FLO-SUN LAND CORPORATION, A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 1991-02-06
No. 89-3038
GUNTHER, J., and WALDEN, JAMES H., (Retired) Associate Judge, concur.
574 So. 2d 1162 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1991) Caution
Cited by 19 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Mitchell appealed a trial court's cost judgment, challenging the taxation of miscellaneous costs including office expenses and surveillance costs. The appellate court held that certain items such as photocopying, postage, long distance calls, travel expenses, courier service, and surveillance expenses should not have been taxed as costs under Florida's Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs.


Holding

The court held that office expenses (photocopying, postage, long distance calls, travel expenses, and courier service) and surveillance expenses should not have been taxed as costs. The court affirmed the taxation of other costs, finding no abuse of discretion regarding discovery copies that met the Guidelines' requirements.


Headnotes

[1] Surveillance film expenses are not taxable as costs.

[2] Travel expenses for an attorney to attend a deposition are not taxable as costs.

Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“As listed, the photocopy, postage, long distance calls, travel expenses and courier service appear to be office expenses and should not have been taxed as costs.”

Establishes that ordinary office expenses are not taxable as costs

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The Mitchells filed a voluntary dismissal on the eve of trial against Osceola Farms Co. and Flo-Sun Land Corporation. The trial court granted Osceola …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
GARRETT, Judge.

GARRETT, Judge.

This is an appeal of the trial court’s cost judgment. Appellant, who filed a voluntary dismissal on the eve of trial, claims that the items listed in the miscellaneous section of appellee’s “VERIFIED MOTION TO TAX COSTS” should not have been taxed as costs. We cannot tell from the motion why the various items were incurred and we have not been provided with a transcript of the hearing on the motion to tax costs.

The following are some of the listed miscellaneous costs:

$ 24.50 10/28/88 Identifax Surveillance

1,041.83 08/26/88 Identifax Surveillance

332.03 01/27/89 Identifax Surveillance

1,107.25 11/87 through 7/89 — Photocopy

70.24 11/87 through 7/89 — Postage

92.17 11/87 through 7/89 — Long Distance Telephone Calls

96.50 11/87 through 7/89 — Travel Expenses

94.50 11/87 through 7/89 — Courier As listed, the photocopy, postage, long distance calls, travel expenses and courier service appear to be office expenses and should not have been taxed as costs. See Vogel v. Allen, 443 So. 2d 368 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983) (citing Bolton v. Bolton, 412 So. 2d 72, 73 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). Even if counsel traveled to attend depositions, we note that section 3 of the Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs in Civil Actions (Guidelines) precludes travel expenses for an attorney to take a deposition. And even if the long distance telephone calls were made to witnesses, we note that section 6 of the Guidelines provides that long distance calls to witnesses should not be taxed as costs.

The Guidelines make no provision for surveillance films to be taxed as costs. We hold that the surveillance film expenses are not taxable as costs. If the film is considered a report, we note that section 2B of the Guidelines provides that no charge should be made for a pretrial report submitted by one’s own expert.

The rest of the miscellaneous costs appear to have been incurred during discovery when appellee obtained copies of various records, reports and exhibits. The “Cost of Xerox or other machine reproduced copies” is covered by section 7, of the Guidelines:

The cost of copies of documents (contracts, promissory notes, etc.) actually filed in the Court file should be taxed. The cost of copies of documents (contracts, business records, hospital records, etc.) actually filed and received in evidence during the course of trial should be taxed. Generally, the cost of copies obtained during course of discovery and not used at trial should not be taxed, but the presiding judge should exercise his discretion on the taxability of the cost of such copies if the facts of the entire ease warrant an award of the cost of such copies.

Appellant has failed to show that the trial judge abused his discretion by taxing the cost of the copies obtained during discovery.

Accordingly, we reverse as to the taxation of the costs for office photocopying ($1,017.25), postage ($70.24), long distance telephone calls ($92.17), travel expenses ($96.50), courier service ($94.50), and surveillance ($1,398.36) and affirm as to all other taxed costs. Further, we remand with directions to enter an amended cost judgment consistent with this opinion.

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.

GUNTHER, J., and WALDEN, JAMES H., (Retired) Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Jones v. ETS OF NEW Orleans, Inc., 793 So. 2d 912 (Fla. 2001)
    …all be included in the judgment.” § 57.041, Florida Statutes. The general rule is that only taxable costs are to be included in any cost judgment. See Kelly v. Militana, 595 So. 2d 113, 115 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992); see also Mitchell v. Osceola Farms Co., 574 So. 2d 1162, 1163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991).2 On the other hand, for purposes of the determination of the equitable distribution formula, the starting point is the employee’s net recovery. See generally Lombardi, 770 So. 2d at 1200-02. Net recovery represents the gr…
  • State v. Skidmore, 720 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998)
    …e court abused its discretion in awarding certain of these expenses. Specifically, the postage, long distance calls, fax transmissions, and delivery service are office expenses that should not have been taxed as costs. Mitchell v. Osceola Farms Co., 574 So. 2d 1162, 1163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (citations omitted). We also find it was an abuse of discretion to award travel expenses, since the record does not indicate that Skidmore’s experts and/or trial witnesses had to travel for trial or discovery purposes from…
  • Helene K. Miller v. Hayman, 766 So. 2d 1116 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …versed a cost assessment for travel expenses of counsel, stating: “The costs seem to be based on an arbitrary estimate and include some clearly nontaxable costs such as attorney’s travel expenses.” We did the same thing in Mitchell v. Osceola Farms, 574 So. 2d 1162, 1163 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991): “As listed, the photocopy, postage, long distance calls, travel expenses and courier service appear to be office expenses and should not have been taxed as costs.” [*1119] Several years later, in Madison v. Midland Nationa…

Previewing 3 of 10 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw