Did you know that the Rules of Court Committee proposes increasing party and party costs by 35%?
Today’s blog offers a short summary of the important details, and the committee’s full report can be found here.
On January 12, 2015 the Rules of Court Committee released its views on the scale of costs in Schedule C of the Rules of Court. Schedule C governs the amounts a successful litigant can presumptively be awarded from an unsuccessful litigant. These are commonly called party and party costs, and they are not meant to provide full indemnification (or solicitor-client costs) to a winner.
Schedule C was last adjusted in 1998 – 12 years before the current Rules came into effect. According to the Committee’s report, “there was a broad consensus that the Schedule needs to be updated to reflect inflation.”
According to the Committee’s report, and based on the opinions gathered by it:
- The basic structure of Schedule C will stay the same. That is, it will continue to be divided into columns, based on the amount at stake in the litigation.
- Schedule C will continue to apply to all types of litigation, no matter the area of law or the complexity of the case.
- The objective of Schedule C will continue to be to provide some, but not all, cost recovery to a successful litigant.
- The revised Schedule C will not include costs for dispute resolution processes, notwithstanding a call for that change by some commentators.
The Committee recommends that the new Schedule apply to all costs entitlements effective July 1, 2015.
Karen McDougall, LESA Counsel
