Estimate how much of your own legal bill a costs award might cover if you win, and how much you would still pay yourself.
In most Canadian common law provinces the loser of a lawsuit is usually ordered to pay part of the winner's legal costs. "Part" is the key word. Costs awards rarely cover the full bill, and the scale, the judge's discretion, settlement offers and the conduct of each side all change the amount. This estimator shows the gap between what you spend and what you might get back.
How to use it. Enter your total expected legal bill and the share you assume a costs award would cover. Try a cautious figure and an optimistic one. In Ontario, partial indemnity awards are often described by practitioners as covering a fraction of actual fees, and substantial indemnity is defined in the Rules of Civil Procedure as 1.5 times partial indemnity; in Quebec, legal costs awarded normally do not include your own lawyer's fees.
Formula. Recovered costs = total bill x share. Not recovered = total bill - recovered costs.
Worked example (illustrative). A $60,000 bill with an assumed 50% recovery leaves you $30,000 out of pocket even if you win. At 30%, you would recover $18,000 and still pay $42,000.
Limits. The share is your assumption, not a rule. You can also be ordered to pay the other side's costs if you lose, and a winning judgment is only worth something if the other side can pay. Read how costs awards work before relying on any recovery.
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