Legal Definitions - costs to abide event

Costs to abide event is a legal instruction issued by a court concerning the expenses incurred during a lawsuit. It means that the decision about who will ultimately be responsible for paying specific legal costs (such as attorney fees, court filing fees, or expert witness charges) is postponed until the final outcome, or "event," of the entire case. Instead of ruling on costs for a particular motion, hearing, or interim stage immediately, the court reserves that decision. Typically, the party that prevails in the overall lawsuit may then be awarded these costs, but the final determination remains at the judge's discretion based on the full context of the case.

• Example 1: Preliminary Motion

  Imagine a company, "Tech Innovations Inc.," sues a former employee for breaching a non-compete agreement. During the early stages of the lawsuit, the employee files a motion asking the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the agreement is unenforceable. The judge denies the employee's motion but states that the "costs to abide event." This means the judge isn't deciding right now whether Tech Innovations Inc. or the employee should pay the legal expenses associated with that specific motion to dismiss. Instead, the judge will wait until the entire lawsuit is resolved – perhaps after a full trial – to determine who pays those costs, likely factoring in who ultimately wins the main case.

• Example 2: Discovery Dispute

  In a personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff and defendant have a significant disagreement over which medical records need to be produced during the discovery phase. They bring this dispute to the judge, who makes a ruling on what records must be shared. When issuing the ruling, the judge declares that the "costs to abide event" for this discovery dispute. This signifies that the judge is not immediately ordering one party to pay the legal fees incurred by the other party for arguing over the medical records. Instead, the court will defer that decision until the final judgment of the personal injury case, when a comprehensive decision on all legal costs will be made based on the overall outcome.

• Example 3: Interim Appeal

  Consider a complex environmental lawsuit where a local community group is challenging a proposed development. During the proceedings, the court issues an interim order allowing some preliminary site work to begin. The community group immediately appeals this specific interim order to a higher court. The appellate court hears the appeal, upholds the lower court's interim order, and then states that the "costs to abide event" for this interim appeal. This means the appellate court is not immediately awarding legal costs for the appeal to the developer. Instead, the question of who pays the legal expenses related to this specific appeal will be decided much later, once the entire environmental lawsuit, including any further appeals or a final trial, has reached its conclusion.