An issue has come up with collecting court costs on civil asset forfeiture cases. Typically the state does not pay filing fees and service fees when the case is filed. The fees are typically deducted out of settlement when the case is resolved. Sometime these cases go on for a year or more before resolution. The District Clerk has informed us that the costs taken out of settlement should be the costs that would be assessed if the case were filed on the date of settlement as opposed to the costs that would have been paid on the date the case is filed. This does not seem right to me, but I wanted to see if anyone else had come across this issue.

Article 59.05(b) states that all chapter 59 cases shall proceed "in the same manner as other civil cases." Article 59.05(f) states that in cases of more than $2,500 the clerk of the court "is entitled to court costs in that proceeding as in other civil proceedings ...."

Therefore, I think the district clerk should assess costs in forfeiture cases the same way the clerk does for other civil cases.