Sherner v. National Loss Control Services Corp.11/15/2005
Neither does it tell us whether a motion under § 25-10-502, MCA, to have the court tax costs, was timely filed.
At the time the District Court made its decision that Defendants would be successful, it also determined that they would have their costs. The amount of costs claimed by the Defendants was at that time unknown to both the court and the Sherners. So, the amount of costs claimed had to be ascertained. The claiming parties are the only ones who have the information necessary to do this. According to the statutory scheme, the court would not become involved at all in assessing costs unless a timely notice of objection is filed pursuant to § 25-10-502, MCA. Absent an objection, it is unlikely that the District Judge will ever have the amount of costs claimed brought to his or her attention. Most certainly, the court has no obligation to fix the amount of costs absent an objection.
After the bills of costs were filed, the Sherners had five days to file a simple, short document that, in effect, says: "You are given notice that we will file a motion to have the District Court tax costs." If such notice had been filed, the Sherners could later have filed their motion, stated their objections and supported the same. The three Defendants that filed bills of costs would also have had the obligation to support their claims. Then, and only then, would the District Court be required to tax costs. Gahagan v. Gugler (1935), 100 Mont. 599, 603-06, 52 P.2d 150, 152-54.
Montana's statutory scheme for claiming costs, providing for an objection to the claim, and setting strict and short time limits for these actions, is simple, to the point, and designed to not delay the entry of judgment by wrangling over costs. Obviously, the judgment amount is determined, including costs, the judgment is filed, and the judgment creditor may have execution thereon, right away. Entry of judgment shall not be delayed for the taxing of costs. Rule 58, M.R.Civ.P. However, § 25-10-502, MCA, not unlike Rule 59, M.R.Civ.P., provides the possibility that the amount of judgment may be changed by court order if a timely motion to alter it is successful. The taxing of costs by entering them in a judgment is in theory an intermediate order. Gahagan, 100 Mont. at 603, 52 P.2d at 152.
There is no error in how costs were taxed. The Defendants in this case were entitled to costs by virtue of the summary judgment order entered in their favor on December 9, 2003. See Springer v. Becker (1997), 284 Mont. 267, 277, 949 P.2d 641, 646; § 25-10-102, MCA. Defendants' right to recover costs was subject to their claiming them by filing bills of costs, which three of them did on December 16, 2003. Section 25-10-501, MCA. The three Defendants claiming costs fulfilled their statutory obligations to obtain their award by timely filing bills of costs.
Once the amount of the costs claimed was ascertained by the filing of the bills of costs, the Clerk of Court had a statutory duty to include such costs in the judgment within two days. Section 25-10-504, MCA. Nowhere in the statutes is it required that the clerk or the judge figure out how long a party has to file a notice of their intent to file a motion to have the court tax costs, and then wait until it has expired before inserting the amount of costs in the judgment. This requirement is simply pulled from thin air by the Court. Neither the District Judge nor the clerk of court had any obligation to even read the bills of costs, much less analyze whether the amounts claimed were legally correct. The District Court had fulfilled its obligation when the judgment was filed.
The amounts of costs taxed, which were included in the judgment, we
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