BOB GUALTIERI, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SHERIFF OF PINELLAS COUNTY, APPELLANT,
v.
TIMMIE LEIGH KEYSER, INDIVIDUALLY, AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF RICHARD N. KEYSER, DECEASED, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2017-05-31
No. Case No. 2D15-2112
CASANUEVA and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.
219 So. 3d 972 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2017) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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

Sheriff Gualtieri appeals a cost judgment awarded to Keyser after she prevailed at trial, challenging the trial court's award of digital video editing costs and expert witness fees. The appellate court reverses, holding that Keyser failed to meet her burden of proving these costs were reasonably necessary and that expert fees required evidentiary hearing testimony, which she did not provide.


Holding

The trial court erred in awarding digital video editing costs and expert witness fees. Keyser failed to meet her burden under the Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs to demonstrate that the video editing was reasonably necessary. Additionally, when the Sheriff specifically objected to setting expert witness fees without an evidentiary hearing, Keyser was required to present testimony concerning the necessity and reasonableness of those fees, which she failed to do.


Headnotes

[1] A party seeking to recover costs must demonstrate that the cost was reasonably necessary to prosecute or defend the case at the time the action precipitating the cost was…

[2] A party seeking to recover expert witness fees must present testimony concerning the necessity and reasonableness of the fee when the opposing party specifically objects…

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Key Quotes

“The Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs requires the party requesting costs to demonstrate the cost was "reasonably necessary either to defend or prosecute the case at the time the action precipitating the cost was taken."”

Establishes the applicable standard for awarding costs—that costs must be shown to be reasonably necessary to the prosecution or defense of the case.

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Facts & Procedural History

After prevailing at trial, Keyser filed a motion to tax costs. The Sheriff filed a detailed response objecting to specific cost items, including digit…

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Opinion of the Court
KELLY, Judge.

*973KELLY, Judge.

Pinellas County Sheriff, Bob Gualtieri, appeals from the final judgment awarding costs to Timmie Leigh Keyser. The Sheriff challenges two aspects of the award—the cost of digital video editing and the fees awarded to six experts. We agree the trial court should not have awarded these costs and therefore reverse and remand with directions to strike those portions of the cost judgment.

After prevailing at trial, Keyser filed a motion to tax costs. The Sheriff filed a detailed response to the cost motion listing each individual cost item Keyser sought to recover, the amount of the item, and the Sheriffs specific objection, if any, to each item. At the first hearing on the cost motion, the trial court determined Keyser was entitled to recover her costs, but it set another hearing to determine which costs she could recover. Both in his objections and at the initial hearing the Sheriff advised the trial court and opposing counsel of the need for an evidentiary hearing regarding reasonableness of the expert witness fees. The Sheriff also explained in detail why Keyser had not met her burden to show the video editing costs were reasonably necessary. However, when the parties appeared for the second cost hearing, Keyser offered no evidence in support of any of these requests.

The Statewide Uniform Guidelines for Taxation of Costs requires the party requesting costs to demonstrate the cost was “reasonably necessary either to defend or prosecute the case at the time the action precipitating the cost was taken.” In re Amendments to Unif. Guidelines for Taxation of Costs, 915 So.2d 612, 614 (Fla. 2005). The Sheriff argues Keyser did not meet her burden to show the video editing was reasonably necessary to prosecute the action. We agree. See Nasser v. Nasser, 975 So.2d 531, 532 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (affirming the denial of costs of depositions where the moving party failed to meet her burden in the trial court to show that the requested costs were reasonably necessary); cf. Winter Park Imps., Inc. v. JM Family Enters., Inc., 77 So.3d 227, 231-32 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011) (affirming costs for certain transcripts and depositions where lead counsel testified via affidavit and without objection as to the reasonableness and necessity of the costs). Accordingly, this portion of the cost award must be stricken.

The Guidelines allow a party to recover a reasonable fee for expert testimony. “[U]pon the specific objection to the setting of an expert witness fee without an evidentiary hearing, the prevailing party will have to present testimony concerning the necessity and reasonableness of the fee.” Lafferty v. Lafferty, 413 So.2d 170, 171 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). In his written response to Keyser’s cost motion and at the first cost hearing the Sheriff made his objection to Keyser’s expert witness fees known. He argued repeatedly that Keyser had the burden to prove the reasonableness and necessity of the six experts’ fees and, citing Lafferty, he argued she had to do so by offering testimony at an eviden-tiary hearing. At every turn the Sheriff made it known that he objected to setting the experts’ fees without an evidentiary hearing. Because Keyser, even in the face of the Sheriffs objections, failed to offer any testimony whatsoever in support of her request for expert witness fees, the fees for those experts must also be stricken from the cost judgment.

Reversed and remanded for entry of a cost judgment consistent with this opinion.

CASANUEVA and CRENSHAW, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Roberts v. Third Palm, LLC (Fla. 4th DCA 2020)
    …nif. Guidelines for Taxation of Costs, 915 So. 2d 612 (Fla. 2005). When a party makes an issue of the reasonableness of the costs, the party seeking the costs has the burden of establishing the reasonableness of the costs. See Gaultieri v. Keyser, 219 So. 3d 972, 973 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) (finding that where party opposing motion for costs makes it known that he objects to reasonableness of costs, trial court erred in awarding such costs without any testimony regarding reasonableness of costs); Nasser v. Nasse…

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