It is a well-established principle that in a litigation matter, 'costs follow the event'. This means in general terms, that a person who wins their legal case can recover their own legal fees from the loser.
This principle is subject to some important limitations but generally, the likelihood of recovering your costs or not is a key part of a decision as to whether to bring or defend a claim.
A recent case reminds us that courts will exercise their discretion and in this case, disallowed parts of the winning defendant's costs because he had behaved unreasonably.
A claim was brought against the defendant for the installation of defective plumbing. The defendant admitted to installing the plumbing early on in the proceedings. The defendant went on to allege that the defect in the plumbing had not caused the subsequent flood. Later in the proceedings, the defendant was allowed to withdraw his admission and alter his defence to the effect that he was not responsible for this installation. The defendant was successful at trial.
The court took a dim view of the fact that there had been little or no investigation at the outset of the issues around the installation of the plumbing. Such investigation would have deterred the original admission.
In addition, the consequence of the alteration of the defence was that a lot of expensive and time consuming expert evidence became necessary. As a result, the defendant was not entitled to recover his costs for the period before the amendment to the proceedings.
The case is a timely reminder of the importance of obtaining clear legal advice from the outset of a matter and of properly investigating the claim before a defence is put forward.
To discuss your litigation matter (whether claimant or defendant), contact us.