Free Objection - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

DIANE HUMETEWA United States Attorney District of Arizona SUZANNE M. CHYNOWETH Assistant U.S. Attorney Arizona Bar Number 6835 40 North Central Avenue, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004 Telephone: (602) 514-7500 Facsimile: (602) 514-7760 email: [email protected]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Alexander Jung, Plaintiff, v. John Potter, Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service Defendant. CIV-04-0429-PHX-MHM DEFENDANT'S OBJECTION TO PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS FEES AND COSTS

Defendant, John E. Potter, Postmaster General, hereby objects to the award of costs to

16 Plaintiff for Dr. Jensen's witness fees in the amount of $ 446.50 because that cost is not 17 allowable under 28 U.S.C. § 1920(c) as a witness fee. [See Doc. # 220-2, pp. 1-2; Taxation of 18 Costs Order.] Dr. Jensen, who was Plaintiff's treating physician, was not an expert witness in 19 this case, and did not even testify at trial. [See Joint Pretrial Order (Doc. #124), p. 33, Section 20 H ("[t]he parties are not calling expert witnesses").] In fact, Plaintiff's counsel was admonished 21 during closing arguments for improperly vouching that Dr. Jensen wanted to testify but could 22 not. [Trial Trans. P. 782:22-787:19.] Given that Dr. Jensen did not testify, Plaintiff's request 23 for reimbursement of his witness fees as an allowable cost is unreasonable. 1/ 24 Defendant therefore respectfully requests that the Court enter an order denying as an 25 allowable cost, Plaintiff's requested reimbursement for Dr. Jensen's witness fee. Defendant 26 further requests that Plaintiff provide additional documentation and support for his claims for 27 28 Even if Dr. Jensen were an expert witness, his witness fee should be limited to the statutory witness fee of $40.00 under 28 U.S.C. §1821.
Case 2:04-cv-00429-MHM Document 224 Filed 08/04/2008 Page 1 of 3
1/

1 reimbursement for "fee and disbursement for printing," in the amount of $2,133.00 and "other 2 costs" in the amount of $1017.49. The supporting documentation for those costs do not establish 3 that they are proper under FRCP 54(d) and 28 U.S.C. § 1920. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2
Case 2:04-cv-00429-MHM Document 224 Filed 08/04/2008 Page 2 of 3

Respectfully submitted this 4th day of August, 2008.

DIANE HUMETEWA United States Attorney District of Arizona /S/ Suzanne M. Chynoweth SUZANNE M. CHYNOWETH Assistant U.S. Attorney

1 2 3

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on July 29, 2008, I electronically transmitted the attached document

4 to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic 5 Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: 6 7 Rosval A. Patterson 777 E. Thomas Rd. 8 Phoenix, AZ 85014 9 s/S. Chynoweth 10 Office of the U.S. Attorney 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3
Case 2:04-cv-00429-MHM Document 224 Filed 08/04/2008 Page 3 of 3