California Rule of Court 3.1700: Cost Memorandum and Deadlines

California Rule of Court 3.1700 sets the post-judgment procedure for claiming and challenging litigation costs: the prevailing party serves and files a Memorandum of Costs on Judicial Council Form MC-010 within 15 days after service of the notice of entry of judgment or dismissal (or within 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever is first), and the opposing party then has 15 days from service of that memorandum to file a motion to strike or tax specific items.¹ Miss either deadline and the issue is effectively closed.

Who Can File Under Rule 3.1700

Only the “prevailing party” as defined by Code of Civil Procedure section 1032 can use the rule to claim costs. That statute treats cost recovery as a matter of right, not judicial grace, for four categories: a plaintiff with a net monetary recovery, a defendant in whose favor a dismissal is entered, a defendant where neither side recovers relief, and a defendant against any plaintiff who did not recover against that defendant.²

When the outcome is mixed or the relief is non-monetary, the court decides who prevailed and whether to award costs at all. Sort out that status question before you file, because filing a memorandum when you don’t qualify wastes the short deadline you have.

Filing the Memorandum of Costs

Costs are claimed on Form MC-010, the Memorandum of Costs (Summary).³ You itemize each expense by category and sign a verified statement, under penalty of perjury, that the costs are correct and were necessarily incurred in the case.

You don’t attach receipts or invoices at the time of filing. The verification carries the paperwork forward on its own weight, and the amounts are presumed correct unless the other side objects. That presumption is only as good as your records, though. If a motion to tax lands, you’ll need to produce the underlying documentation for every line item under attack, so pull invoices, deposition transcripts, service receipts, and filing-fee records before you file rather than after.

Form MC-010 also has a line for attorney fees, but only when the fees are fixed by contract or statute at an amount that requires no judicial determination.⁴ In most contested cases the fee amount needs the court to calculate it, and that takes a separate noticed motion under Rule 3.1702, not the memorandum.

The 15-Day and 180-Day Deadlines

Rule 3.1700(a) requires the memorandum to be served and filed within 15 days after the date of service of the notice of entry of judgment or dismissal, or within 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever comes first.¹

The two triggers interact in a way that catches people. If no one serves a notice of entry, the 15-day clock never starts, but the 180-day outer limit runs from entry no matter what. And if you’re planning around 180 days and the opposing side serves a notice of entry the day after judgment, your window collapses to 15 days. Set your calendar off the earlier of the two possibilities, not the later.

What Belongs on the Memorandum

Code of Civil Procedure section 1033.5 controls which expenses can go on the form. The statute sorts litigation costs into three groups.

Recoverable as a Matter of Right

These items are allowable if they were reasonably necessary to the conduct of the litigation:⁵

Filing, motion, and jury fees.
Taking, video recording, and transcribing depositions, plus interpreter fees for non-English-speaking witnesses and travel costs to attend depositions.
Service of process through a registered process server or public officer, including stakeout charges.
Ordinary witness fees at the statutory rate set by Government Code section 68093.
Fees of expert witnesses ordered by the court.
Premiums on surety bonds required during the litigation.
Court reporter fees as established by statute.
Electronic filing fees when the court requires or orders electronic filing.

Not Recoverable

Two exclusions trip up litigants most often. Fees for expert witnesses you retained on your own, as opposed to experts the court ordered, are not allowable as costs under section 1033.5.⁵ Investigation expenses are also generally not recoverable unless the court ordered the investigation. Postage, telephone charges, and photocopying (other than of exhibits) don’t make the cut either.

Discretionary

Models, enlarged exhibits, photocopies of exhibits, and electronic presentation costs may be allowed if they were reasonably helpful to the judge or jury.⁵ “May” is the operative word. The court decides whether the item actually assisted the decision-maker.

Padding the memorandum with non-recoverable items invites a broad motion to tax and can undermine the credibility of the entries that should have gone through unchallenged. Include what qualifies and leave the rest off.

Challenging the Costs: Motion to Strike or Tax

Rule 3.1700(b) gives the party against whom costs are claimed 15 days after service of the memorandum to file a motion to strike or tax costs.¹ After that window closes, the costs go through as claimed.

Unless you’re attacking the entire memorandum, the motion has to reference each disputed item by the same number and in the same order as it appears on the MC-010, and it has to state why each item is objectionable.¹ A general complaint that the bill is “unreasonable” won’t do the work. Typical grounds are that a specific expense wasn’t necessary to the litigation, was incurred for attorney convenience rather than case preparation, or falls into a category section 1033.5 lists as non-recoverable.

The verified memorandum creates a presumption that the amounts are correct. A properly targeted, item-by-item motion shifts the burden to the party who claimed the costs to justify the challenged items with documentation. A motion that only makes broad complaints doesn’t shift the burden and leaves the presumption intact.

After the Challenge Deadline

If no motion to strike or tax is filed within 15 days, or after the court rules on one that is filed, the clerk immediately enters the approved costs on the judgment.¹ From that point the costs are part of the enforceable judgment and collectible the same way as the underlying award.

Attorney Fees Go Through a Different Rule

Rule 3.1700 does not handle attorney fee awards that require judicial calculation. Those go through Rule 3.1702 as a separate noticed motion, and the deadline tracks the notice of appeal: 60 days after service of a notice of entry of judgment, or 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever is first.⁶ Winning the case isn’t enough on its own; you need a statute or contract clause that authorizes fee-shifting. Filing fees on the wrong form or the wrong deadline is a common way to lose them entirely.

How a Section 998 Offer Changes the Picture

A rejected pretrial offer to compromise under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 can rewrite the cost outcome that Rule 3.1700 would otherwise produce. If a defendant makes a written 998 offer and the plaintiff fails to obtain a more favorable judgment, the plaintiff loses the right to recover post-offer costs and must pay the defendant’s post-offer costs, and the court has discretion to order the plaintiff to pay a reasonable amount for the defendant’s expert witness fees, even though those fees would normally be non-recoverable under section 1033.5. The mechanism runs both directions: a defendant who rejects a plaintiff’s 998 offer and fails to beat it can be ordered to pay the plaintiff’s post-offer expert witness fees on top of ordinary costs.⁷

Section 998 doesn’t require a trial verdict to bite. If you reject a 998 offer and later settle for less than the offer amount, the cost-shifting consequences still apply, because the burden falls on the rejecting party to obtain a more favorable result by any means.

Deadlines at a Glance

Memorandum of Costs: 15 days after service of notice of entry of judgment or dismissal, or 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever is first.¹
Motion to strike or tax costs: 15 days after service of the memorandum.¹
Motion for attorney fees under Rule 3.1702: 60 days after service of notice of entry of judgment, or 180 days after entry of judgment, whichever is first.⁶

1
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 3.1700 – Prejudgment Costs
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1032
3
Judicial Branch of California. Memorandum of Costs (Summary)
4
Judicial Council of California. Memorandum of Costs (Summary)
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1033.5
6
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 3.1702 – Claiming Attorneys Fees
7
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998