How much is a plaintiff entitled to recover from the defence for counsel’s attendance at trial?

Relying on Burnett v. Moir, the defence concedes that the plaintiff should recover 1.5 of the units for counsel’s attendance at trial. The defendants submit, however, that the plaintiff and the defendants each had a single primary counsel conducting the action until a few months prior to trial and, on that basis, that the plaintiff should not recover additional units for preparation.

As was the case in Burnett v. Moir, this case certainly profited at trial from the use of two counsel for the plaintiff as well as for the defendants. But that is not to say that the defendants should be responsible for the costs of two counsel for both preparation and attendance at trial.

When I consider what occurred in Wallman v. Doe, Burnett v. Moir, and my own involvement in this case as a result of judicial case management, I conclude that the plaintiff should receive his costs for preparation and attendance at trial based on one and one-half counsel, but not two.