PRACTICE |
Costs |
CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada
T-1618-93
Gibson J.
21/12/99
10 pp.
Federal Court Rules, 1998, r. 400--As general rule, costs should follow event--Where success fairly evenly divided, should normally be no order as to costs--Main action (T-1618-93, judgment dated 9/11/99, to be reported in F.C.R.) relating to copyright infringement--Defendant herein almost entirely successful in defending against claims of plaintiffs, but wholly unsuccessful in asserting its counterclaim--On whole, defendant more successful than plaintiffs--Issues of general importance and of significant complexity, involving substantial amount of work on both sides--Substantial public interest, both in policy terms and in legal terms, in having matter determined--Plaintiffs' allegations as set out in statement of claim and reliefs extraordinarily broad and without specificity, complicating defendant's preparation for and presentation at trial--On other hand, defendant's late-filed and ill-defined constitutional defence put plaintiffs to substantial additional work in attempting to anticipate and prepare therefor--No basis on which to conclude any step in action improper, vexatious or unnecessary or taken through negligence, mistake or excessive caution--In view of divided result, complexity of legal issues and lack of Canadian case law on issues, and public interest in having actions litigated, appropriate case for each party to bear own costs--Federal Court Rules, 1998, SOR/98-106, r. 400.