Costs

A party must request the court to award costs. The court generally defers its decision until judgment is rendered, then determines whether the prevailing party is entitled to costs. The successful party is not required to prevail on every issue or to obtain the entire amount of damages sought. Costs are also awarded to a party prevailing on appeal, even though the case was lost in the trial court.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, after which most states have patterned their own procedural rules, "costs shall be allowed as of course to the prevailing party unless the court otherwise directs." Since state laws vary on this subject, however, the applicable state law must be consulted to determine the exact rules.

Costs cannot be assessed against a party merely because of tenacity in pursuing the claim. In Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. August, 450 U.S. 346, 101 S. Ct. 1146, 67 L. Ed. 2d 287 (1981), the justices held that plaintiffs who lose their lawsuits in federal court after rejecting a settlement offer (a proposal to avoid litigation by compromising a disputed claim that does not admit liability) are not required to pay the defendant's costs and attorney fees.

Parties may determine the imposition of costs pursuant to an agreement. The court will enforce a contractual provision or a stipulation provided neither is UNCONSCIONABLE or the result of FRAUD.

When cases involve multiple parties—more than one plaintiff or more than one defendant—a court may allocate costs among the losing parties.

If one party is a stakeholder—a person who is or might be exposed to multiple liability from adverse claims—the stakeholder's costs are generally obtained from all the other parties to an INTERPLEADER action or from the stake: funds or property deposited by two persons with a third person, the stakeholder, for delivery to the person entitled to it upon the occurrence of a particular event.