Brown

In this personal injury case, defendant Desert Christian Center was successful in proving its affirmative defense that the injuries alleged by plaintiff Frank D. Brown were within the exclusive jurisdiction of the workers’ compensation system. A judgment of dismissal was entered and defendant sought to recover its costs as the prevailing party under Code of *736 Civil Procedure section 1032. 1 Plaintiff moved to strike defendant’s memorandum of costs, asserting that since defendant prevailed on the ground of lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to award costs. The trial court granted plaintiff’s motion and defendant now appeals from that order. Defendant contends on appeal that the trial court had jurisdiction to award costs under the particular circumstances of this case. We agree and accordingly reverse the trial court’s order striking the memorandum of costs.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On December 14, 2006, plaintiff was injured at defendant’s building site in Ridgecrest, California, when he fell from a ladder while painting and doing paint preparation work. On November 14, 2008, plaintiff filed a complaint in Kern County…