In an unpublished case I glanced at from yesterday because of its interesting name, The Old Orchard Conservancy v. City of Santa Ana, G053003, Div. 3 of the 4th District reminds us that post-judgment orders for costs are separately appealable. At the end of a typically-long CEQA opinion concerning a last vestige of agricultural history in Orange County, the court reiterated it had no jurisdiction to review a cost-award as the trial court's ruling on the motion to tax costs had been February 5, 2016, but the notice of appeal from the underlying judgment had been filed December 29, 2015. Because the appellant challenged the amount of costs, which had been determined in the post-judgment motion, rather than the entitlement to costs, which could be part of the judgment; a separate, subsequent notice of appeal was required. Litigants will have to determine if the additional filing fee and effort is worth a challenge to an amount of costs, but if no filing fee is paid, the Court of Appeal will not let you through the orchard gate.
