Motion to Tax Costs in California: Deadlines and Grounds

A motion to tax costs in California is how you push back on the bill of expenses the winning side files against you after judgment. You file it as a noticed motion within 15 days of being served with the Memorandum of Costs (10 days if the costs are for post-judgment enforcement), and you use it to ask the court to strike or reduce items that are not legally allowed, were not reasonably necessary to the case, or are inflated in amount. Miss the window and the claimed costs are added to the judgment without any judicial review.

The Deadline Is Short and Service Method Changes It

California Rule of Court 3.1700 sets the pre-judgment deadline: your motion must be both served and filed within 15 days after the Memorandum of Costs (Judicial Council form MC-010) was served on you.¹ How the memorandum was delivered extends that baseline:

Mail within California: add five calendar days under Code of Civil Procedure section 1013.²
Mail from or to an address outside California: add ten calendar days.²
Electronic service: add two court days under Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6.³

If a judgment creditor files a separate memorandum for costs incurred while enforcing the judgment (writs of execution, recording abstracts, and similar), Code of Civil Procedure section 685.070 gives you only 10 days to move to tax those costs, subject to the same service extensions.⁴ Calendar the deadline the day the memorandum arrives. If no motion is filed in time, the clerk enters the claimed costs on the judgment and they become enforceable.

What Goes in the Motion

The motion is a formal noticed motion on pleading paper, identifying the case name, case number, and the date the Memorandum of Costs was served. Rule 3.1700(b) gives you two ways to frame the challenge.

If you are objecting to specific line items, reference each contested item by the same number it carries on the MC-010, list them in the same order, and state why each one is objectionable.¹ A statement that the costs are “too high” will not do. You need to identify, for example, that Item 4 claims $3,200 for deposition transcripts that were never used at trial, or that Item 11 includes postage charges the statute prohibits.

You can also object to the entire Memorandum of Costs. The item-by-item numbering requirement applies only when you are targeting individual entries.¹ A blanket challenge fits situations where the filing party is not actually the prevailing party under section 1032, or where the memorandum itself was filed late.⁵

Most effective motions do both: a threshold argument about entitlement or timeliness, followed by item-by-item challenges. Attach a declaration from you or your attorney laying out the factual basis for each objection. Judges want to be shown why an expense was unnecessary rather than asked to take your word for it.

The Three Grounds for Objection

Code of Civil Procedure section 1033.5 sorts costs into categories, and your arguments track those categories.⁶

The Cost Is Not Legally Allowable

Section 1033.5(b) flatly prohibits certain expenses unless another statute specifically authorizes them: expert witness fees not ordered by the court, investigation expenses in preparing for trial, postage, telephone, and photocopying charges (except for exhibits), and transcripts of court proceedings not ordered by the court.⁶ These are your easiest wins. If the memorandum includes $800 for a private investigator or $350 in general photocopying, point to the subdivision and the court should strike the item.

The same argument applies to any expense that does not fit within a recognized cost category at all. Cite the statute and let the other side try to find authority.

The Cost Was Not Reasonably Necessary

Even items listed as allowable under section 1033.5(a) must be reasonably necessary to the litigation rather than merely convenient or beneficial to preparation, per section 1033.5(c)(2).⁶ Depositions, filing fees, service of process, witness fees, court reporter fees, and court-ordered expert fees all appear on the allowable list, but any one of them can be attacked on necessity grounds. Twelve depositions in a straightforward contract dispute invites a challenge. So does a rush transcript fee when trial was months away. Explain what the case actually required and why the claimed expense went beyond that.

The Amount Is Unreasonable

Section 1033.5(c)(3) separately requires that allowable costs be reasonable in amount.⁶ You can concede a deposition transcript was necessary and still argue that $6 per page is double the going rate. Include competing quotes or industry pricing if you can. Even without formal evidence, a glaring disparity between the claimed amount and standard market rates gives the judge a basis to cut the item.

Who Has the Burden of Proof

This detail drives strategy and trips up many filers. For costs expressly listed as allowable under section 1033.5(a), you carry the burden: you must show the specific expense was unnecessary or unreasonable. For costs that are not expressly listed in the statute, the burden flips to the prevailing party to prove the expense was both reasonable and necessary.¹

When you are attacking an allowable cost, bring evidence. When you are attacking a discretionary or unlisted cost, sometimes raising a well-framed objection and forcing the other side to justify the expense is enough. Section 1033.5(c)(4) gives the court discretion over items in neither the allowable nor the prohibited list.⁶ Those discretionary items are often where the biggest money sits, and they are frequently left unchallenged by filers who focus only on the clearly prohibited categories.

The Hearing and What the Court Does

After the motion is filed and served, the court sets a hearing. The prevailing party can file an opposition defending each contested item, and you can file a reply. At the hearing, the judge reviews the filings and any supporting evidence and issues an order that allows, reduces, or strikes each contested item.

The order finalizes the recoverable cost figure, and the clerk enters that number on the judgment. If the judge strikes $5,000 from a $12,000 cost memorandum, only $7,000 gets added to the judgment. If the motion is denied outright, the full claimed amount becomes part of the enforceable judgment, which is also what happens if you do nothing and let the deadline pass.¹

Mistakes That Cost People the Motion

Missing the deadline is the most damaging error. Fifteen days (or ten for enforcement costs) goes fast, especially alongside post-trial motions or an appeal. Calendar it the day the memorandum arrives and add the correct service extension.

The second mistake is filing a general complaint instead of a targeted challenge. Judges want a clear chart connecting each item number to a dollar amount and a specific legal reason it should be reduced or stricken. A motion arguing that “the costs are excessive” without the item-by-item breakdown gives the court nothing to work with.

The third mistake is ignoring the discretionary category. Filers who challenge only the clearly prohibited items leave money on the table, because unlisted expenses are exactly where the prevailing party carries the burden of proof and where a failure to justify the charge can produce the largest reductions.

1
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1700 – Prejudgment Costs – Section: (b) Contesting Costs
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1013
3
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1010.6
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 685.070
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1032
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1033.5