In lawsuits in Alberta, the losing party pays a substantial amount of costs to the winner of the lawsuit.
The Alberta Court of Appeal looked at the issue of party and party costs (i.e. costs payable to the winning party in litigation with no wrongdoing alleged). In the case of McAllister v Calgary (City), 2021 ABCA 25 the court said at 43:
[42] In Weatherford CA, this Court expressly endorsed th[e] 40-50% level of indemnification at paragraph 11:
The general rule is that costs are awarded on a party and party basis, and that this should represent partial indemnification of the successful party – approximately 40-50% of actual costs [citations omitted].
And before that, in Hill v Hill at paragraph 11:
But party-party costs are not plucked out of the ether; they are designed to be somewhere around half a reasonable legal bill, or a little under. And Schedule C does not bind a judge in any respect, and is not even presumed correct.
If you have questions about costs, please feel free to contact us.
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. No solicitor client relationship is formed through this article. The reader is encouraged to retain counsel for advice in these matters.
