we lost a drug nuisance suit, judge wrote the defendant entitles to cost of suit. Do we pay his attorney fee?
March 23rd, 2011 | 
Author: We sued a landlord for drug nuisance in Oakland California, we lost and we have to pay the suit. Do we have to pay the landlord his attorney fee? The judge wrote that the defendent can collect cost of suit. What is cost of suit comprised of?
Posted in Landlord Tenant Law
Your lawyer should be able to explain the ruling to you. Didn’t bother to hire one? Wonder why you lost?
It certainly sounds that way..
It appears that you started off with two strikes against you.
Firstly, it does not appear that you had a lawyer or you would
not be asking this question.
Secondly, Oakland CA does not sound like an ideal location
to even be filing a suit like this…
“costs of suit” usually do not include attorneys’ fees. It’s usually just things like the filing fee they had to pay when they answered your complaint, and probably a few other things (but in a small case, maybe not very many). I think the landlord will have to submit an intemized bill for his costs of suit. Then you can sort it out.
Sometimes a contract (including leases) will have a “loser pays” atty fee provision for suits that are based on the contract or lease (but it sounds like yours wasn’t). And some statutes have that too. But the normal rule in America is that both winners and losers pay their own atty fees. And “costs of suit” does not normally include atty fees.