Rich Rotstein

The court determined costs following a 106-day individual assessment trial in a class action where the plaintiff recovered $50,000 after claiming $60,000,000.

The plaintiff sought over $7,000,000 in costs, including nearly $3,000,000 in interest on litigation loans.

The court ruled that interest on litigation loans is not a recoverable disbursement.

Finding that the plaintiff unreasonably rejected multiple offers to settle from the defendants, the court awarded the plaintiff partial indemnity costs up to the date of the defendants' first offer in 2009, and awarded the defendants their partial indemnity costs thereafter, resulting in a net costs award of over $2.3 million payable by the plaintiff to the defendants.

The defendants sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis after successfully achieving a dismissal of the action at the opening of trial.

The defendants had made three offers to settle, the last being a valid, unexpired Rule 49 offer.

The plaintiff did not file any responding costs submissions.

The court awarded the defendants substantial indemnity costs from the date of their final offer, and partial indemnity costs for the steps taken prior to that offer, resulting in a total costs award of $39,298.11 plus GST.

The parties settled a statutory accident benefits dispute on the morning of the scheduled arbitration hearing.

As part of the settlement, the insurer agreed to pay the applicant's expenses, but the parties could not agree on the quantum.

The arbitrator reduced the preparation time claimed for one of the applicant's lawyers from 100.8 hours to 70.0 hours, finding the original amount somewhat high given that no hearing was conducted.

The arbitrator also reduced the disbursement claimed for an expert report to the $1,500 maximum permitted under the Expense Regulation.

The applicant was awarded total expenses of $14,653.71.