Starling v. Union Pacific Railroad

**Starling v. Union Pacific Railroad: Court Protects Worker from Excessive Legal Costs** This case involved a dispute between an employee named Starling and Union Pacific Railroad Company. After the main employment lawsuit was resolved, the railroad company tried to make Starling pay $17,760.28 in legal costs from the case, including expenses for videotaped depositions and other court proceedings. The appellate court sided with Starling and overturned the lower court's decision to make him pay these costs. The court found that the trial judge didn't have proper authority to award certain types of discretionary costs, particularly the expensive videotaped deposition fees. Additionally, the court determined that proper legal procedures weren't followed when calculating and certifying the deposition costs. **What this means for workers:** This ruling provides important protection for employees who bring employment lawsuits against their employers. Even if workers don't win their cases, courts cannot automatically force them to pay excessive or improperly calculated legal costs. Employers must follow strict legal procedures when seeking to recover costs, and courts have limited authority to award certain expensive items like videotaped depositions. This helps ensure that fear of overwhelming legal bills doesn't prevent workers from pursuing legitimate employment claims.