Can I recover my legal costs after winning a court case in Ontario?

Ontario courts can award costs — a contribution toward legal fees and disbursements — to the successful party in most civil proceedings. However, a costs award rarely covers 100% of your actual legal bills. The courts use a tariff-based or proportionality-based approach, and the amount awarded depends on the complexity of the case, the conduct of the parties, and whether any formal settlement offers were made.

In Small Claims Court, cost awards are capped at 15% of the amount claimed, plus reasonable disbursements. This is a modest amount. For that reason, in Small Claims proceedings, many parties self-represent or limit their legal spending, knowing cost recovery will be limited.

In the Superior Court of Justice, costs are assessed on either a "partial indemnity" or "substantial indemnity" basis. Partial indemnity (the default) typically recovers about 40–60% of reasonable legal fees. Substantial indemnity (a higher rate) can be awarded when a party's conduct has been particularly unreasonable, or when the other party rejected a settlement offer and then did worse at trial than the offer would have provided.

To maximize cost recovery in Superior Court, making a formal written settlement offer (a Rule 49 offer) that is not accepted, and then doing better at trial than your offer, can result in enhanced cost awards from the date the offer was rejected.

Costs orders, once made, are themselves enforceable as part of the judgment and attract post-judgment interest.