Also known as: expenses · legal expenses · expenses of litigation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An outlay of money, time, labor, or other resources made to achieve a particular result. In litigation and professional contexts the term identifies costs that a party or lawyer must bear or may recover, and it triggers duties to minimize unnecessary outlays or to segregate advance payments.
Elena Estrada, plaintiff in a federal contract action, sent a written notice and request for waiver of service to Elemental Pharmaceuticals under Rule 4(d). The company executed the waiver, eliminating the need for a process server. Elena thereby avoided the marshal fees and mileage charges that would have been incurred had formal service been required.
After a car accident, Enzo Eastwood offered to pay Ezra Eastman's hospital bills. At trial Enzo sought to introduce the offer to show he was not at fault. The court excluded the evidence under Rule 409 because offers to pay medical expenses are inadmissible to prove liability.
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Ewan Eckhart paid his lawyer a $25,000 retainer that included anticipated court filing fees and expert-witness expenses. The lawyer deposited the entire sum into the client trust account and withdrew portions only after each expense was actually incurred, complying with the advance-expense rule.
Edgewater Capital, holding a junior mortgage on an apartment complex, obtained appointment of a receiver. The receiver collected rents and first paid real-estate taxes and reasonable repair expenses before applying the balance to the junior obligation, as required when a senior mortgagee later sought its own receiver.
Eclipse Manufacturing contracted to buy components from a supplier at $50 per unit. After breach, Eclipse purchased substitute goods at $65 per unit but saved $8 per unit in inspection and storage costs that the original contract would have required. Eclipse recovered the $15 difference minus the $8 saved expenses.
Elysium Media shareholders brought a successful derivative suit on behalf of the LLC. The court awarded the plaintiffs their reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation costs out of the monetary recovery obtained for the company, as authorized when a derivative action produces a benefit to the entity.
Under Rule 4(d), a defendant who fails to waive service without good cause must pay the expenses of formal service. The rule creates a duty to avoid unnecessary costs by accepting waiver when requested in proper form.
No. Rule 409 excludes evidence of furnishing or offering to pay medical or similar expenses to prove liability for the underlying injury. The exclusion prevents the payment from being used as an admission.
Rule 1.15(c) requires the lawyer to deposit the entire advance into a client trust account and to withdraw funds only as fees are earned or expenses are actually incurred. Commingling or premature withdrawal violates the rule.
UCC § 2-712(2) permits recovery of the difference between cover price and contract price plus incidental and consequential damages, but subtracts any expenses the buyer saved because of the seller's breach.
Under the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act § 806(b), if the derivative action succeeds in whole or in part the court may order payment of the plaintiff's reasonable expenses, including attorneys' fees, from the LLC's recovery.
…it is believed to be true and even though it is in fact true, because of doubt whether it can be proved in court or fear of the expense of having to do so. They tend to make only statements which "steer far wider of the unlawful zone." Speiser v. Randall, supra, 357 U. S., at 526. The rule thus dampens the vigor and limits…