Specifically at issue here, “[a]warding the costs of obtaining copies of medical records necessary for a case is ‘clearly allowable’ in the Seventh Circuit.” Gillman v. Crown Equip. Corp., No. 95 C 1914, 1996 WL 556706, at *5 (N.D.Ill. Sept. 26, 1996) (citing Finchum v. Ford Motor Co., 57 F.3d 526, 534 (7th Cir.1995); M.T. Bonk Co. v. Milton Bradley Co., 945 F.2d 1404, 1410 (7th Cir.1991)); see alsoLewis v. City of Chi., No. 04 C 6050, 2012 WL 6720411, at *8 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 21, 2012) (Castillo, J.) (finding that “copy fees are properly recoverable [if] they [are] paid to medical service providers for medical records that [are] necessary to the case”); Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 465 (N.D.Ill.2012) (finding that the fees paid to a hospital for medical records were “recoverable as costs for records which were reasonably necessary at trial”). Defendants contend that the medical records were used to support their Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Facts for their motion for summary judgment.
Court reporter attendance fees must be reasonable, and "[h]ourly fees in excess of $60.00 are ordinarily unreasonable." Dishman v.Geary, 279 F.R.D. 460,468 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (citing Askew v.City of Chi, No. Civ.A. 04 C 3863, 2006 WL 1005167, at *1 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 12, 2006)). Here, the invoices submitted by Williams demonstrate that the court reporter charged an hourly rate of $34.00 per hour, (R. 214, Williams' Am. Bill of Costs at 4, 8), and so these costs are reasonable.
Those costs are reasonable. See Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 467 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (record subpoena costs of $40-$45 are reasonable). The remaining two "subpoena fees" appear to be witness advance fees paid to Porscher Ellerbe and Margaret O'Sullivan.
Because advanced witness fees are incidental to service of subpoenas on witnesses, they will be awarded when service on a witness is reasonable at the time that it was made. Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 466 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (emphasis added). Defendants seek $374.20 in advanced witness fees. [ECF No. 144], at 5.
Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 466 (N.D. Ill. 2012); Collins v. Gorman, 96 F.3d 1057, 1060 (7th Cir. 1996). The allowable cost for service of process by a marshal is $65.00 per hour plus travel costs and other out-of-pocket expenses.
The Court concludes that advance witness expenses between approximately $45 and $55 were reasonable and necessary to the litigation. See Ayala v. Rosales, No. 13-CV-04425, 2016 WL 2659553, at *5 (N.D. Ill. May 9, 2016) (finding advance witness fees of $50.88 per witness reasonable); Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 466 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (finding advance witness fees between $40 and $51.95 reasonable "in light of the statutory maximum and small allowances for travel expenses"). Based on the evidence provided, the Court finds that Coltri is entitled to witness fees for Tolbert, Dr. Robinson, and Hodel.
In particular, "fees for subpoenaing medical records are allowable." Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 467 (N.D. Ill. 2012); see also Gillman v. Crown Equip. Corp., No. 95 C 1914, 1996 WL 556706, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 26, 1996) (same). The prevailing party must show "that the requested costs were necessarily incurred and reasonable."
Fees charged for serving subpoenas "may not exceed the rate charged by the Marshal Service, ... which currently is $55.00 per hour or portion thereof" plus travel costs. Serwatka v. City of Chicago, 2011 WL 2038725, at *2 (N.D. Ill. May 24, 2011) (citing Collins v. Gorman, 96 F.3d 1057, 1059-60 (7th Cir. 1996); and 28 C.F.R. § 0.114(a)(3)); see also Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 466 (N.D. Ill. 2012); Wells v. Johnson, 2012 WL 3245955, at *2 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 6, 2012); Perry v. City of Chicago, 2011 WL 612342, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 15, 2011). The $45.00 "process server fee" is reasonable, given that the Marshal Service charges a minimum of $55.00 per person served.
Although Plyler does not object to these charges, courts in this district are split on whether to award these fees if the combined fees exceed the maximum allowable rate. Compare Gutierrez v. P.A.L., Ltd., No. 10 C 4152, 2012 WL 2993896 at *2 (N.D. Ill. July 20, 2012) (denying court reporter attendance fees that when combined with transcript fees exceeded per page maximum), with Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 467-68 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (awarding attendance fees that when combined with the transcript costs exceeded maximum rate). The Seventh Circuit, however, has held that court reporter attendance fees can be taxed, see Held v. Held, 137 F.3d 998, 1002 (7th Cir. 1998), and has affirmed awards of attendance fees that exceeded the maximum per page rate.
Indeed, there appears to be a split among the district judges in the Northern District of Illinois, with some judges awarding appearance fees in addition to the maximum allowable per page transcript fee and other district courts limiting the taxable costs to the per page rate. Compare Dishman v. Cleary, 279 F.R.D. 460, 467 (N.D.Ill.2012) (Denlow, M.J.); Comrie v. IPSCO Inc., No. 08–3060, 2010 WL 5014380, at *3 (N.D.Ill. Dec. 1, 2010) (Darrow, J.); Wagner v. University of Illinois Medical Center, No. 09 C 7591, 2010 WL 4074376, at *1 (N.D.Ill. Oct. 12, 2010) (Conlon, J.), with Serwatka v. City of Chi., No. 08 C 5616, 2011 WL 2038725, at *1 (N.D.Ill.