Bills of Costs -- Check Your Math & Show Your Work
Shanklin Corp. v. American Packaging Mach., Inc., No. 95 C 1617, 2006 WL 2054382 (N.D. Ill. July 18, 2006) (Schenkier, Mag. J.).
In this case, Magistrate Judge Schenkier considered plaintiff’s Amended Bill of Costs after the two defendants were found to have infringed plaintiff’s patents, one defendant willfully. The Court took pains explaining plaintiff’s math and proof-reading errors in plaintiff’s cost spreadsheet. Apparently, defendant’s (only one defendant objected to the Bill of Costs) initial objections to the Bill of Costs were largely based upon plaintiff’s failure to explain and support its costs. Both parties would have saved attorneys fees – and the court would have been spared the task of sorting this out – had plaintiff taken the time to explain in detail its costs in the first place. This opinion also provides a useful explanation of which standard costs are recoverable and which are not.
