Legal Memorandum: Plaintiff Deposition Costs in Iowa

Issue: What Iowa Court of Appeals or Iowa Supreme Court cases discuss the parameters of allowable deposition costs that a plaintiff may recover?

Cagle v. Pilot Travel Ctrs., L.L.C., 821 N.W.2d 286 (Iowa Ct. App. 2012) (Costs of medical records and trial exhibits are recoverable as necessary litigation expenses);

Blien v. Marine, 822 N.W.2d 123 (Iowa Ct. App. 2012) (unpublished) (Court has discretion to award costs of depositions if they are introduced into evidence in whole or in part at trial.);

Doty v. Olson, 2010 Iowa App. LEXIS 1536 (Iowa Ct. App. Dec. 8, 2010) (“A successful party may not recover deposition costs under Rule 1.716 by ‘mere oral reference’ to a witness’s deposition during trial.”);

Coker v. Abell-Howe Co., 491 N.W.2d 143 (Iowa 1992) (“[P]reliminary depositions that have been ‘bootstrapped’ into the record through testimony or subsequent video depositions used at trial may not be taxed against the losing party.”  “Allowable costs are limited to the cost of the original of depositions and do not include the expense of duplicate copies obtained for convenience of counsel.”).

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