Solicitors sought declarations regarding the validity of contingency fee agreements and the allocation of legal costs between injured plaintiffs and the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) under s. 39 of Regulation 552 to the Health Insurance Act.
The court held the contingency fee agreements did not comply with the Solicitors Act and Regulation 195/04 because they improperly incorporated amounts arising from costs and failed to include mandatory statutory statements.
The court also interpreted the cost‑sharing formula under s. 39(6), concluding that a proportion of costs recovered in the action should be attributed to the plan when determining the plan’s share of taxable costs.
However, the total recovery used in the denominator must include both the plan’s and the injured person’s recoveries.
Declaratory guidance was provided for calculating the plan’s proportional liability for solicitor’s fees.
