Court Costs – An Often Overlooked Part Of Litigation

In the recent Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta decisions of Weatherford Canada Partnership v. Addie, 2018 ABQB 571 and Remington v Crystal Creek Homes Inc, 2018 ABQB 644, the Court addressed how costs should be calculated following litigation. Although court costs are awarded at the end of court applications or trials and are almost always awarded in favour of the successful party, they should not be considered an afterthought. Determining court costs ought to be an important consideration for litigants and their counsel, and counsel can often take steps to significantly increase potential recovery and decrease potential exposure to awards of court costs. This post will address what court costs are, the ways they can be awarded, and steps that can be taken to address them.

What are court costs?

Court costs are the costs involved in handling a case by which Judges in all cases have the discretion to award court costs. All provinces in Canada and almost all common law jurisdictions have adopted the "English system" of "loser pays" court costs.

Historically, under the English system, successful litigants were awarded approximately 40-50% of their actual legal expenses. The purpose behind the policy was to:

Discourage frivolous claims, Encourage settlement of meritorious claims, and Allow...