PRACTICE |
Costs |
Sherman v. M.N.R.
A-387-02
2004 FCA 29, Létourneau J.A.
23/1/04
7 pp.
Court awarding appellant "moderate allowance for the time and effort devoted to preparing and presenting the case"-- Meaning of "moderate allowance"--Purpose of costs rules not to reimburse all expenses and disbursements, but to provide partial compensation--Unless Court orders otherwise, Federal Court Rules, 1998, r. 407 requiring costs be assessed in accordance with column III of table to Tariff B--Appellant, unrepresented, expended time and effort in pursuit of claims-- However, represented litigants also sacrifice considerable amount of their own time and effort for which no compensa-tion paid--Furthermore, their lawyer's fees not fully reimbursed--Applying identical cost schedule to both represented and unrepresented litigants will work inequity--It could also promote self-litigation as occupation--If appellant had been represented, he would have been awarded party-and-party costs according to column III of table to Tariff B-- Award of costs as unrepresented litigant can, at best, equal, but should not exceed, what would have otherwise been paid to him--Concept of "moderate allowance" indication of partial indemnity, although in rare but appropriate cases, amount of indemnity could be equal to what tariff would grant to represented litigant--Tariff can provide useful benchmarks, even if costs not assessed on tariff basis--Moderate allowance fixed at $6,000 plus disbursements--Federal Court Rules, 1998, SOR/98-106, r. 407.