Brown v. Dessert Christian Center, 122 Cal. Rptr. 3d 590

Plaintiff Frank D. Brown was injured at defendant Desert Christian Center's worksite in Ridgecrest in 2006.
Brown sued for premises liability and general negligence in Kern County Superior Court in 2008.
Desert Christian Center asserted a ninth affirmative defense: exclusive workers’ compensation remedy for Brown.
A trial mini-trial determined Brown’s injuries fell under workers’ compensation coverage, and no non-Workers’ Comp exemption applied.
The trial court dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and entered a judgement of dismissal; Desert sought costs under CCP §1032.
The trial court struck the memorandum of costs; Desert appealed arguing it had jurisdiction to award costs despite the dismissal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court had power to award costs after dismissal	Brown asserts no costs due to lack of jurisdiction	Desert argues costs may be awarded as incident to the judgment	Yes, costs can be awarded under §1032 in this context.
Whether the trial court could determine its own jurisdiction	Court lacked power due to subject matter jurisdiction concerns	Court had inherent power to decide jurisdiction and resolve the defense	Court had jurisdiction to determine its own jurisdiction and proceed.
Whether costs may be awarded when dismissal rests on jurisdictional defense	Costs were not recoverable since jurisdiction was lacking	Costs incidental to the dismissal can be recovered under 1032	Costs may be awarded in these circumstances.

Shisler v. Sanfer Sports Cars, Inc., 167 Cal.App.4th 1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008) (independent review of jurisdictional issues)
Salawy v. Ocean Towers Housing Corp., 121 Cal.App.4th 664 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004) (costs and jurisdiction considerations in civil actions)
Doney v. Tambouratgis, 23 Cal.3d 91 (Cal. 1979) (how and when courts determine workers’ compensation applicability)