Litt

Prior to trial, defendant Eisenhower Medical Center (EMC) served on plaintiff David Litt a $15,000 settlement offer under Code of Civil Procedure section 998, which Litt did not accept. Litt subsequently added Compass Group USA, Inc. (Compass), as a defendant in the suit. Compass did not serve a section 998 offer on Litt. A jury returned a verdict for Litt and against defendants jointly and severally for $3,000.

After trial, EMC and Compass jointly requested costs and expert fees and Litt requested costs. The court found that Litt was the prevailing party as to Compass and EMC was the prevailing party as to Litt, but declined to award EMC its post-section 998 offer expert fees that were incurred and/or paid by Compass pursuant to an indemnity agreement between them.

EMC and Compass argue that the court should have treated them “as one” for purposes of recovering costs and expert fees and, in any event, it should have awarded EMC its post-section 998 offer expert fees paid by Compass. We conclude that the court correctly considered EMC and Compass separately for purposes of its prevailing party determination, but that it erred in denying EMC recovery of expert witness…