Henkel v. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Ry. Co.

Background

A family sued under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act in a federal district court in Minnesota after a worker died. After winning a verdict, the family asked the federal judge to allow extra fees for experts who testified, relying on a Minnesota statute that lets state judges include reasonable expert fees in taxable costs. The district court denied that request, and the federal appeals court asked the Supreme Court whether a United States District Court has power to allow and tax such expert fees when the state courts do so.

Reasoning

The Court examined whether federal courts must follow state practice about costs when Congress has acted. Historically federal courts sometimes followed state rules for costs, but Congress long ago set specific rules for witness fees. The Court found that federal statutes prescribe the per diem and mileage for witnesses and do not leave room for extra expert compensation to be taxed as costs. Because Congress has spoken on witness fees, that federal law controls and prevents a district court from awarding additional expert witness fees as taxable costs.

Real world impact

The decision means people who win federal cases in states with more generous rules cannot get extra expert-fee awards added as taxable costs in federal court; experts are limited to the statutory per diem and mileage. The Court also noted a separate line of cases where a state-created substantive right (for example, a mandatory attorney fee) might be enforced in federal court outside the costs statutes, but that distinction does not help in this expert-fee situation.