Last year I posted several blogs on costs: “Costs” (July 17), “Costs- Self-Represented Litigants” (August 4), “Costs – Security for Costs” (August 5).

Generally speaking, there are two types of costs: party-to-party costs, and solicitor-client costs. While party-to-party costs may entitle you to recover about 2/3 of your legal bill against the opposing side, solicitor-client costs usually call for 80%-90% cost recovery. Only very rarely can the successful party recover from the opposing party 100% of the actual legal bills payable to the lawyers. I call these rarely granted cost recoveries “super costs.”

Super costs are rare. They’re only available to successful parties under exceptional circumstances or under certain legislative mandates.

For example, the Condominiums Act in Ontario provides that if the condominium corporation “obtains an award of damages or costs in an order made against an owner or occupier of a unit, the damages or costs, together with any additional actual costs to the corporation in obtaining the order, shall be added to the common expenses for the unit.”

The Ontario Court of Appeal+ has explained the difference between “an award of cost” and “additional actual costs.” The former refers to  cost orders made by the court or made after a court assessment, while the latter can also capture actual legal costs to the condominium corporation, payable to their lawyers.

Suppose the successful condominium corporation’s actual legal bill payable to the lawyers is $10,000, but the court has ordered that only $5,000 is payable. The condo corporation can nonetheless charge the entire $10,000 against the unsuccessful unit owner pursuant to the Condominiums Act.

+ MTCC No. 1385 v. Skyline Executive Properties Inc. (2005), 197 O.A.C. 145, 253 D.L.R. (4th) 656