Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

The defendant is entitled to file a memorandum of costs when the defendant dismisses the case unless there is an agreement to waive costs. The defendant must serve the memorandum of costs before filing it. You can bet they will, or maybe by now already have filed it.

A defendant is entitled to costs incurred if a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses a lawsuit and the defendant has appeared. The types of costs that can be recovered will depend on the case and how much was done. A defendant cannot get costs unless they file a memorandum of costs with the court and serve a copy on the plaintiff. There is a limited amount of time to do that. Once the costs memo is filed, the plaintiff can file a motion to tax the costs if any of them are improper or not available.