Costs and attorney's fees after a federal judgment: 14 days, and the clock starts on entry

Winning ends one clock and starts two more. Rule 54(d) runs costs and attorney's fees on separate tracks with separate deadlines, and neither is generous.

Costs other than fees — the clerk taxes them

FRCP 54(d)(1) sets the default: unless a federal statute, the rules, or a court order provides otherwise, costs other than attorney's fees "should be allowed to the prevailing party."

Two qualifications sit in the same subdivision. Costs against the United States, its officers and its agencies "may be imposed only to the extent allowed by law." And:

The clerk may tax costs on 14 days' notice. On motion served within the next 7 days, the court may review the clerk's action.

Two short periods, back to back. Fourteen days' notice before the clerk acts; seven days after that to ask the court to review what the clerk did.

What is taxable as costs is set by 28 U.S.C. § 1920 and by the statute underlying the claim — not by Rule 54 — and it is considerably narrower than "expenses." Filing fees, transcript costs, printing, witness fees, copying costs necessarily obtained for use in the case, docket fees and compensation of court-appointed experts and interpreters are the statutory categories.

Attorney's fees — 14 days from entry of judgment

FRCP 54(d)(2)(A): a claim for attorney's fees and related nontaxable expenses "must be made by motion unless the substantive law requires those fees to be proved at trial as an element of damages."

That exception matters. Where fees are an element of the claim — many contract cases with fee clauses — they are tried, not motioned.

FRCP 54(d)(2)(B): unless a statute or court order provides otherwise, the motion must:

(i) be filed no later than 14 days after the entry of judgment; (ii) specify the judgment and the statute, rule, or other grounds entitling the movant to the award; (iii) state the amount sought or provide a fair estimate of it; and (iv) disclose, if the court so orders, the terms of any agreement about fees for the services for which the claim is made.

Fourteen days is short, and it runs from entry of judgment — not from the resolution of post-trial motions. A party waiting to see how a Rule 59 motion turns out can miss it. The rule's opening words are the escape hatch: "Unless a statute or a court order provides otherwise," so a timely request to extend, or a local rule setting a different period, changes it.

Requirement (iii) is worth noting — a fair estimate suffices at the motion stage. You do not need fully assembled billing records within the 14 days.

How the fee motion is decided

FRCP 54(d)(2)(C): subject to Rule 23(h) — the class-action fee provision — the court must, on a party's request, give an opportunity for adversary submissions in accordance with Rule 43(c) or 78. "The court may decide issues of liability for fees before receiving submissions on the value of services." The court must find the facts and state its conclusions of law as Rule 52(a) provides.

Bifurcating entitlement from amount is the norm in practice, and the rule expressly authorizes it.

FRCP 54(d)(2)(D): by local rule, a court may establish special procedures to resolve fee-related issues without extensive evidentiary hearings. It may also refer the value of services to a special master under Rule 53 "without regard to the limitations of Rule 53(a)(1)," and may refer a fee motion to a magistrate judge under Rule 72(b) as if it were a dispositive pretrial matter.

Sanctions fees are outside this rule

FRCP 54(d)(2)(E): subparagraphs (A)–(D) "do not apply to claims for fees and expenses as sanctions for violating these rules or as sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927."

So a Rule 11 or Rule 37 fee award, or a § 1927 award against counsel who multiplies proceedings unreasonably, is not subject to the 14-day motion deadline or the other requirements. Those run on their own rules — and Rule 11's own 21-day safe harbor is covered in the sanctions guide.

What "judgment" means for the clock

FRCP 54(a) defines judgment as "a decree and any order from which an appeal lies."

Rule 58 governs when a judgment is entered, and it is the operative event for Rule 54(d)(2)(B)(i). Under Rule 58(c), where a separate document is required, judgment is entered when it is set out in a separate document and entered in the civil docket — or, if no separate document issues, 150 days after entry in the docket.

That 150-day backstop occasionally rescues a fee motion in a case where no separate judgment document was ever entered.

Partial judgments — Rule 54(b)

Worth knowing because it determines whether there is a judgment to run from at all.

FRCP 54(b): when an action presents more than one claim, or multiple parties, "the court may direct entry of a final judgment as to one or more, but fewer than all, claims or parties only if the court expressly determines that there is no just reason for delay."

Without that express determination, an order resolving fewer than all claims "does not end the action" and "may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties' rights and liabilities."

What can be awarded

FRCP 54(c) sets the outer bound on relief: a default judgment "must not differ in kind from, or exceed in amount, what is demanded in the pleadings." Every other final judgment "should grant the relief to which each party is entitled, even if the party has not demanded that relief in its pleadings."

The asymmetry is deliberate — a defaulting defendant is entitled to rely on what the complaint asked for; a defendant who appears and litigates is not.

The sequence

A short checklist

1. Calendar 14 days from entry of judgment for the fee motion — not from the post-trial motions.
2. A fair estimate is enough at the motion stage; you don't need final billing records.
3. Name the grounds — the statute, rule or contract provision. The rule requires it.
4. Watch the cost track separately: 14 days' notice from the clerk, then 7 days to seek review.
5. If fees are an element of the claim, they are proved at trial, not by motion.
6. If the fees are sanctions, Rule 54(d)(2) doesn't apply.

Where these rules live

• Rule 11 — Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers; Sanctions
• Rule 37 — Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate
• Rule 52 — Findings and Conclusions by the Court
• Rule 54 — Judgment; Costs
• Rule 58 — Entering Judgment
• Rule 59 — New Trial; Altering or Amending a Judgment

Taxable costs are defined by 28 U.S.C. § 1920, and most districts have local rules on bills of costs. This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice.