Guillemin

Richard L. Guillemin purports to appeal from the

judgment of dismissal of his cross-complaint that the trial court entered after sustaining the demurrer of Paul Stein and Ray Waller to the only counts of the pleading naming them as cross-defendants. He also appeals from two postjudgment orders awarding costs and sanctions. We shall dismiss the appeal from the judgment and from an award of discovery sanctions as untimely. We shall affirm the award of costs, but will vacate the associated sanctions. In doing so, we construe Government Code section 6103.5 as authorizing the recovery of costs for filing fees when a judgment is entered in favor of public officials acting in their official capacity. Guillemin’s argument to the contrary is neither frivolous nor otherwise a proper basis for imposing sanctions.

I

The trial court entered judgment dismissing the cross-complaint against cross-defendants Stein and Waller on August 16, 2001, and they served notice of entry on Guillemin the next day. Sixty-one days later (Oct. 17), Guillemin filed his notice of appeal. The cross-defendants contend the notice of appeal is untimely. Guillemin concedes the point in his reply brief, but…