Finjan, Inc. v. Bitdefender Inc.
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:17-cv-04790
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Finjan v. Bitdefender, Judge Hixson denied Finjan’s request for $6,872.75 in expenses after Bitdefender canceled an expert deposition.
Finjan was denied reimbursement of $6,872.75 in expenses from the canceled deposition; Bitdefender was not ordered to pay those expenses.
What happened
Finjan, Inc. v. Bitdefender Inc. concerned Finjan’s request that Bitdefender reimburse expenses from a canceled deposition of Finjan’s expert, Dr. Medvidovic. Bitdefender canceled the deposition the night before because the scheduled attorney had a family emergency.
Finjan sought $6,872.75 for attorney travel time, a plane ticket and change fee, airport parking, hotel stays, and cab fare. The court considered the federal rule that can allow recovery of reasonable deposition-attendance expenses when the party who scheduled the deposition fails to proceed.
Judge Hixson ruled that Bitdefender’s last-minute cancellation was justified and did not warrant reimbursement. The court denied Finjan’s request for fees and costs.
The detailed version
- Finjan, Inc. v. Bitdefender Inc. · No. 4:17-cv-04790
- Haywood Gilliam
- Oct. 21, 2019
Background
Finjan and Bitdefender submitted a joint discovery letter brief about Finjan’s request for reimbursement of expenses related to a canceled deposition. The parties had agreed that Bitdefender would depose Finjan’s expert, Dr. Medvidovic, on October 10, 2019. At 9:21 p.m. on October 9, Bitdefender informed Finjan that it could not proceed because the attorney scheduled to take the deposition had a family emergency.
Finjan would not agree to reschedule the deposition unless Bitdefender paid the resulting expenses. Finjan claimed $5,850 in attorney fees for travel time, $333.60 for the plane ticket and change fee, $108 for airport parking, $568.46 for two hotel nights, and $12.69 for cab fare—a total of $6,872.75.
Legal standard and analysis
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(g)(1) allows a party who attends a deposition, personally or through an attorney, to recover reasonable attendance expenses when the party that scheduled the deposition fails to attend and proceed. Although no one attended this deposition because it was canceled the day before, the court explained that courts also apply the rule to last-minute cancellations.
The court further explained that the reason for the cancellation matters. It relied on decisions declining to award costs when a lawyer became suddenly ill, promptly notified the other side, and acted without bad faith or delay. Here, Finjan did not dispute that the family emergency occurred or that it arose the day before the deposition. The court also noted that Finjan cited no legal authority supporting its request and did not refer to Rule 30(g)(1) or another rule.
Ruling
The court found that Bitdefender’s last-minute cancellation was justified and did not warrant an award of fees or costs. The court therefore denied Finjan’s request for the award of fees and costs. Judge Thomas S. Hixson signed the order on October 21, 2019.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.