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  • Request for Costs Order

    -Settlement Conference fast approaching


    -I am the Applicant


    -The Respondent has failed to provide full financial disclosure (claiming he has been unemployed for 12 months but has not provided ROE's ei stubs etc etc)


    -I have become aware of multiple sources of income the Respondent has had in the past 12 months (long story short, he has been the exact opposite of unemployed)


    - I sent a Form 20 Request for Info to the Respondent and his counsel which requested very specific items, with a deadline. This went ignored and is now past the deadline date


    - I chose not to file for a motion after the deadline on Form 20 as our Settlement Conference is so close anyways, and I am assuming I will be able to request and get the same sort of order for disclosure in the Conference as I would be able to in a motion (?- hoping I was correct in this thinking?)


    - In my conference brief I am requesting an order for disclosure of the documents previously listed in Form 20


    - Am I correct in assuming I should be able to request costs for the settlement conference, as his failure to disclose has ultimately rendered further delays in our case, and with that more unnecessary steps?


    - I have done some research on case law regarding costs, and have been journaling my hours spent on preparing for this conference. Would a request for costs awarded at $100/hr for 25 (too much, too little?) hours be reasonable, so long as I am a well prepared and organized self represented litigant?

  • #2
    I have been going to court for 8 years now due to STBX successfully delaying things over and over. Have asked for costs every time. The judge keeps reserving the costs ( meaning until you give up hope and walk away or go to trial). I can count on more than 4 hands how many case conferences we have had. My lawyer said judges don’t like to order costs against either party, especially if children are involved. The convoluted thinking is that somehow by not ordering costs the two of us will miraculously get along enough to parent the kids. Total bs.

    Comment


    • #3
      So basically ask, but don’t expect squat.

      Gotcha. Lol

      Comment


      • #4
        Yes. If you don’t ask and the judge does not reserve judgement on costs a trial judge cannot order costs for that particular cc or motion. That is my Understanding.

        Comment


        • #5
          For my fiancé, his lawyer sat in on two motions prior to theirs being held. The judge ordered no costs in one and $200 in the other following a $20,000 ask. He prepared us both to expect no costs. Their motion went all day and his ex was the moving party asking for 15 items she was not entitled to. The judge said both parties were reasonable and he was pleased with the decorum in the court. He ended up ordering costs though because the ex asked for irrelevant items and wasted a full day on a motion that was not required and our costs including travel to another jurisdiction. Costs were $3000.

          I don’t know how it works in settlement conferences though. If you can ask for costs because they have delayed then it would be reasonable based on the documents being required for the calculation of child support.

          Have you looked up costs and disclosure request on canlii?

          Comment


          • #6
            Rockscan: Yes I have looked up some cases. It seems that costs get awarded (in varying amounts) when one side is being reasonable and the other not when it comes to disclosure.

            To quote Justice J. Czutrin in Wentges v. Faiz 2013:

            “[20] There had already been a case conference and a considerable time had passed since the first conference. Parties should not need to have another conference to deal with the obvious. The obvious included the Respondent needing to make disclosure and to satisfy the court as to his income given the support issue and that he operated through a corporation”

            And

            “[54] Case conferences are generally designed to avoid unnecessary motions and to have productive discussions. Absent disclosure and a filed Answer, particularly two and one-half years after the case began; little would have been served by a case conference without the disclosure and an Answer”

            And

            “
            [61] In the circumstances, the Respondent shall pay the Applicant’s costs fixed at $8,000, inclusive of HST and payable within 30 days with 50% allocated to support and enforceable as a Support Deduction Order”
            .... The Applicant was seeking $12,000 in this case, of which 50% of those costs related to support to allow enforcement by FRO

            However this was from a motion. IÂ’m having a hard time finding rulings on costs awarded at a settlement conference.


            Even more strange (and partially my fault I suppose) is that my case was scheduled for a settlement conference at the case conference. The Respondent was claiming he had been unemployed all year but had filed no EI stubs, ROEÂ’s or any reasoning at all for this supposed unemployment. And the Justice went ahead and scheduled a Settlement conference without ordering disclosure for any of this.

            Why was my case scheduled to move ahead when disclosure isnÂ’t even complete. If I had known back then what I know now, I would have spoke up. But at the CC the Justice didnÂ’t even really speak of support. Just lectured and educated the Respondent on proving material change in circumstance to back up his claim for 50/50 after 4 years of status quo

            Comment


            • #7
              I asked $35K and got $27K ...
              You're right that if one side is unreasonable and court could/should have been avoided, the decision is easier.
              100% discretion on the judge, so it's a crapshoot.

              Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

              Comment

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