To Costs Or Not To Costs – Is That The Question?

The Law Commission of Ontario has now released the scope of its review of Class Actions, and, as expected, this review will entail an examination of the costs regime in Ontario, see http://www.lco-cdo.org/en/class-actions-project-scope. Currently, costs in class proceedings follow the normal Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure and are awarded following the event to the successful party. There are special considerations in class actions such as where a class action raised a novel point of law, is a test case or involved a matter of public interest, as set out under s. 31 of the Class Proceedings Act, 1992 and whether the primary objective of class proceedings -- enhanced access to justice -- may be taken into account is debated, but the overall approach is still the standard "loser pays" regime.