April 9 – Self-Represented Litigants and Costs

“As explained by this court in Fong v. Chan (1999), 1999 CanLII 2052 (ON CA), 46 O.R. (3d) 330 (C.A.), lawyers who represent themselves in a lawsuit are entitled to costs. Self-represented litigants, however,

be they legally trained or not, are not entitled to costs calculated on the same basis as those of the litigant who retains counsel. … Costs should only be awarded to those lay litigants who can demonstrate that they devoted time and effort to do the work ordinarily done by a lawyer retained to conduct the litigation and that, as a result, they incurred an opportunity cost by forgoing remunerative activity.”

Pirani v. Esmali, 2014 ONCA 279 (CanLII) at 6