Tiffani A. Frederick

The applicant sought full indemnity costs for several motions, arguing the respondent acted in bad faith and unreasonably by seeking to re-litigate a consent order shortly after it was made.

The court found the respondent's conduct was unreasonable but did not rise to the level of bad faith, which requires an intention to inflict harm or deceive.

The court also found the applicant's offers to settle lacked a true element of compromise.

Costs were awarded to the applicant on a partial indemnity basis, fixed at $20,460.

Following a motion in family litigation in which the moving party obtained substantially all requested relief, the court determined costs.

The moving party had made two offers to settle that were largely consistent with the ultimate outcome and would have avoided the motion if accepted.

Applying Rule 24 of the Family Law Rules, the court found the moving party’s position reasonable and the responding party’s conduct less reasonable.

Although the bill of costs was not criticized, the court limited recovery given the relatively narrow issues involved in the motion.

The responding party was ordered to pay $36,000 in partial indemnity costs, inclusive of disbursements and HST, payable at the end of the litigation.