“Modest means is not a basis on which to deny an award of costs. It has long been held that a party’s limited financial circumstances cannot be used as a shield against any liability for costs, particularly when the unsuccessful party has acted unreasonably, see Snih v. Snih, 2007 Canlii 20774 (Ont. SCJ pars. 7-13).
In other words, parties cannot expect to be immune from an Order of costs based on their limited financial resources. If this were the case, parties would be free to conduct litigation as they wished without fear of reprisal in the form of adverse costs Orders. This would be contrary to the philosophy and requirements of the Rules, see: Culp v. Culp, 2019 ONSC 7051 (SCJ) and Mark v. Bhangari, 2010 ONSC 4638 (SCJ). As I wrote in Mohr v. Sweeney 2016 ONSC 3238, citing Balaban v. Balaban, 2007 CanLII 7990 (ON SC), those who can least afford to litigate should be the most motivated to seriously pursue settlement, and to avoid unnecessary proceedings.”