28 U.S.C. § 1923

Docket fees and costs of briefs

Read at: OLRCuscode.house.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov JustiaTitle 28 CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Attorney’s and proctor’s docket fees in courts of the United States may be taxed as costs as follows:

$20 on trial or final hearing (including a default judgment whether entered by the court or by the clerk) in civil, criminal, or admiralty cases, except that in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction where the libellant recovers less than $50 the proctor’s docket fee shall be $10;

$20 in admiralty appeals involving not over $1,000;

$50 in admiralty appeals involving not over $5,000;

$100 in admiralty appeals involving more than $5,000;

$5 on discontinuance of a civil action;

$5 on motion for judgment and other proceedings on recognizances;

$2.50 for each deposition admitted in evidence.

(b) The docket fees of United States attorneys and United States trustees shall be paid to the clerk of court and by him paid into the Treasury.(c) In admiralty appeals the court may allow as costs for printing the briefs of the successful party not more than:

$25 where the amount involved is not over $1,000;

$50 where the amount involved is not over $5,000;

$75 where the amount involved is over $5,000.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 956; June 18, 1954, ch. 304, 68 Stat. 253; Pub. L. 95–598, title II, § 245, Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2671.)Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 571, 572, and 578 (R.S. §§ 823, 824; May 28, 1896, ch. 252, §§ 6, 24, 29 Stat. 179, 186; Feb. 26, 1919, ch. 49, § 1, 40 Stat. 1182; July 19, 1919, ch. 24, § 1, 41 Stat. 209; Feb. 11, 1921, ch. 46, 41 Stat. 1099; June 6, 1930, ch. 409, 46 Stat. 522; Aug. 3, 1935, ch. 431, § 1, 49 Stat. 513).

Section consolidates sections 571, 572, and 578 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed.

The phrase “$20 on trial or final hearing in civil, criminal, or admiralty cases” was substituted for the following provisions of section 572 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., “On trial before a jury, in civil or criminal causes or before referees, or on a final hearing in equity or admiralty, a docket fee of $20”, and the limitation of $10 in “cases at law when judgment is rendered without a jury” was omitted. This simplified restatement provides for a single docket fee in each case which reaches final hearing or trial. Since the docket fee is arbitrary, any limitation or distinction between law cases tried with or without a jury is unrealistic.

Word “solicitor” was omitted as obsolete and inapplicable in civil, criminal, or admiralty practice.

Words “motion for judgment” were substituted for “scire facias” to conform to Rules 2 and 81 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Changes were made in phraseology.

Editorial NotesCodification

Pub. L. 95–598, title IV, § 408(c), Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2687, as amended by Pub. L. 98–166, title II, § 200, Nov. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 1081; Pub. L. 98–353, title III, § 323, July 10, 1984, 98 Stat. 358; Pub. L. 99–429, Sept. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 985; Pub. L. 99–500, § 101(b) [title II, § 200], Oct. 18, 1986, 100 Stat. 1783–39, 1783–45, and Pub. L. 99–591, § 101(b) [title II, § 200], Oct. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 3341–39, 3341–45; Pub. L. 99–554, title III, § 307(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3125, which provided for the deletion of any references to United States Trustees in this title at a prospective date, was repealed by Pub. L. 99–554, title III, § 307(b), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3125.

Amendments

1978—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–598 inserted “and United States trustees” after “United States attorneys”.

1954—Subsec. (a). Act June 18, 1954, inserted in first item “including a default judgment whether entered by the court or by the clerk” after “final hearing”.

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date of 1978 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 95–598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 402(c) of Pub. L. 95–598, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 228 cases (70 in the last 5 years), 1948–2026 · leading case: Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752 (1980).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper, 447 U.S. 752 (1980). · cites it 2× “Section 1920 also permits the assessment of the attorney "docket" fees set by 28 U. S. C. § 1923 . In this case, that fee is $20.”

Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678 (1979). · cites it 2× “[29] See 28 U. S. C. § 1923 (a) ($100 in fees for admiralty appeals involving more than $5,000).”

Fleischmann Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 386 U.S. 714 (1967). · cites it 4× “Moreover, since, with the exception of the docket fee provided by 28 U. S. C. § 1923 (a), [14] the statutory definition of the term "costs" does not include attorney's fees, [15] acceptance of petitioners' argument would require us to ascribe to Congress a purpose to vary the…”

Staton v. Boeing Co., 327 F.3d 938 (9th Cir. 2003). “§ 1923 , a version of which was first enacted in 1853, limits the amount of attorneys’ fees that a prevailing party may recover from the loser, but does not prohibit the award of fees under the common fund doctrine.”

Berryman v. Hofbauer, 161 F.R.D. 341 (E.D. Mich. 1995). · cites it 5× “[and] $5 on motion for judgment____ 28 U.S.C. § 1923 (a). While the above-enumerated costs are presumed to be taxable, the Court must exercise discretion in assessing costs, only allowing taxation of costs for materials “necessarily obtained for use in the case,” 28 U.”

Alabama Power Co. v. Anne M. Gorsuch, as Adm'r, Env't Prot. Agency, Sierra Club, Intervenors., 672 F.2d 1 (D.C. Cir. 1982). · cites it 2× “has been to carve out specific exceptions to a general rule that federal courts cannot award attorneys’ fees beyond the limits of 28 U.S.C. § 1923 ....” 12 Costs are generally awarded to the party prevailing on appeal.”

William Templeman & Alyce Templeman v. Chris Craft Corp., 770 F.2d 245 (1st Cir. 1985). “Section 1920(5) allows taxation of docket fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1923 . Section 1923(a) directs these costs to be taxed at “$2.”

Hines v. City of Albany, 862 F.3d 215 (2d Cir. 2017). “App. P. 39. . "Section 1920 lists clerk’s and marshal’s fees, court reporter charges, printing and witness fees, copying costs, interpreting costs, and the fees of court-appointed experts.”

HTS, Inc. v. Boley, 954 F. Supp. 2d 927 (D. Ariz. 2013). “00 for court filing fee as a taxable cost pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1923 and LRCiv 54.1(e)(8), the Court recommends that HTS be awarded that fee, and need not consider whether it is recoverable under the Lanham Act.”

Dennis M. Wolfel, Cross-Appellant v. Nick Sanborn, Cross-Appellees, 555 F.2d 583 (6th Cir. 1977). · cites it 2× “Defendants filed a notice of appeal to this court, and on September 2, 1975, plaintiff filed a motion with the district court seeking an allowance of attorneys fees in the amount of $3,210 on the theory that the constitutional rights vindicated by plaintiff’s successful district…”

Toliver v. New York City Dep't of Corr., 202 F. Supp. 3d 328 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). “) Specifically, Defendants seek the costs of: (1) fees for the court reporter for the transcripts necessarily obtained for use in the case; (2) fees for exemplification and copies of papers necessarily obtained for use in the case; (3) docket fees pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1923 ;…”

Craig Moskowitz v. Am. Sav. Bank, 37 F.4th 538 (9th Cir. 2022). “28 U.S.C. § 1923 provides: (a) Attorney’s and proctor’s docket fees in courts of the United States may be taxed as costs as follows: $20 on trial or final hearing (including a default judgment whether entered by the court or by the clerk) in civil, criminal, or admiralty cases,…”

Show all 228 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.