Under Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a plaintiff would be required to pay the defendant’s costs after the date an offer of judgment was served if (1) the defendant made an offer of judgment, (2) the offer was not accepted, and (3) the judgment obtained by the plaintiff “is not more favorable than the unaccepted offer.” If a defendant in a personal injury case served an offer of judgment on the plaintiff in the amount of $15,000, the plaintiff did not accept the offer, and the plaintiff obtained a judgment of $15,000, the plaintiff will be obligated to do which of the following?
Explanation
Answer: A - Pay the defendant’s costs. Rule 68 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states: “If the judgment that the offeree [the plaintiff in this example] obtains is not more favorable than the unaccepted offer, the offeree must pay the costs incurred after the offer was made.” Here, the test-taker must recognize that, under the rule, the plaintiff must pay the defendant’s costs even if the judgment obtained at trial is equal to the amount of the offer of judgment. In this example, the offer of judgment and the amount of the judgment are equal, so the plaintiff must pay the defendant’s costs.
