Can successful defendants recover costs if jointly represented?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Pang v Zhang, 2021 BCSC 1435 (CanLII):

In Antrobus v. Antrobus, 2012 BCSC 613, the judge was invited to apply St. George to find that successful defendants should not recover their costs if jointly represented. The judge declined, distinguishing St. George as standing for the proposition that where the inclusion of the successful defendant does not add any additional expense, no costs are warranted: at para. 22. The judge found that counsel had spent a single day's worth of submissions on behalf of the successful defendant, and awarded costs for a single day (of the eight-day trial), set-off against the costs awarded to the plaintiff. [underlining added]

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