May a plaintiff drop a lawsuit any time between filing and courtroom with no consequences, after a def. has spent large sums in preparing a defense?

No. If theipliantiff files a request for dismissal, without first obtaining your agreement to waive court costs, then you are the prevailing party, and you are entitled to file a Statement of Costs. In most cases, court costs inlcude the initial filing fee, sometimes referred to as a first appearance fee, filing fees for motions, the bills of process servers if required, and the fees of the court reporter and witness fees for depositions. If the lawsuit arises from a contract which includes a provision allowing either party to recover its attorney's fees, then the prevailing party may include all of the attorney's fees and expenses it incurred on the Statement of Costs. There are also some statutes that allow attorneys fees, especially discrimination laws and RICO. You cannot recover anything for your own time defending yourself, even if you are an attorney or in-house counsel for a company which is a defendant. The time for filing a Statement of Costs is very short, maybe even as short as 10 days. Please look up the time in the Rules of Court or Code of Civil Procedure, immediately. After you file and serve the Statement of Costs, it is approved automatically, unless the other side files and serves a Motion to Tax Costs right away. Again, it is a short time. If she or he does not, then the Statement of Costs is deemed approved and you are ready to submit a proposed judgment on the court form. Once the judgment is signed and filed, you are ready to enforce it. If the plaintiff files a Motion to Tax Costs, the hearing may be scheduled very quickly and you may have very little time to submit any more detailed accounting of the costs for which you are seeking reimbursement. Find out the time limits and don't miss any fo them. Missing a deadline gives the court an easy excuse to leave both sides with nothing. No winners or losers. Good luck. Dana Sack 510-286-2200