United States Ninth Circuit

An award of costs of litigation under 28 USC section 1919 to defendants sued for CERCLA cleanup costs is vacated and the case remanded, where the district court applied an inadequate and erroneous standard for awarding litigation costs by presuming that the defendants were entitled to costs because they "prevailed" on a ripeness issue and that the costs were just because they were incurred; and 2) a determination of "just costs" under section 1919 must involve an analysis of what is fair and equitable under the totality of the circumstances.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/14/2012
• Published 03/14/2012

Judges

• McKeown

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James A. Bruen, Barbara Suzanne Farley