Charton v. Harkey’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This distinction, however, affects only how the court applies the underlying principle to particular cost items; it does not change the underlying principle. A prevailing party who is represented by the same counsel as a nonprevailing party may only recover those costs the prevailing party incurred and were reasonably necessary to the prevailing party's conduct of the litigation, not the other jointly represented parties' conduct of the litigation. [Citations.] Whether to award costs that were incurred by both the prevailing party and the nonprevailing party, and were reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation for both the prevailing and nonprevailing party, is left to the trial court's sound discretion based on the totality of the circumstances. [Citation.] [¶] In allocating costs between jointly represented parties, however, the trial court may not make an across-the-board reduction based on the number of jointly represented parties because such an allocation fails to consider the necessity or reasonableness of the costs as required by [Code of Civil Procedure] section 1033.5, subdivision (c). [Citation.] Instead, when allocating costs between jointly represented parties, the court must examine the reason each cost was incurred, whether the cost was reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation on behalf of the prevailing party, and the reasonableness of the cost.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Quiles v. Parent

2. “[A]ll costs awarded to a prevailing party must be incurred by that party, must be 'reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation rather than merely convenient or beneficial to its preparation,' and must be reasonable in amount. ( [Code Civ. Proc.,] § 1033.5, subd. (c)(1)-(3).) These limitations apply whether the costs are awarded as a matter of right or in the court's discretion. ... [¶] ' "When a prevailing party has incurred costs jointly with one or more other parties who are not prevailing parties for purposes of an award of costs, the judge must apportion the costs between the parties [based on the reason the costs were incurred and whether they were reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation by the jointly represented party who prevailed].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Quiles v. Parent

3. “Here, the trial court made an across-the-board allocation based on the number of jointly represented defendants, awarding Harkey 25 percent of all costs defendants incurred because she was one of four jointly represented defendants. The court erred because it failed to apply the proper legal standards in making the allocation. [Citation.] We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to allocate costs based on the foregoing principles.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Quiles v. Parent