If I win my Ontario lawsuit, can I recover my legal costs from the other side?

In Ontario civil litigation, the general rule is that the losing party pays some portion of the winning party's legal costs. This is called a costs order, and it is a near-universal feature of Ontario civil litigation. However, the amount awarded rarely equals the full amount the winning party paid their own lawyer.

Ontario courts apply different scales of costs depending on the circumstances. The most common is partial indemnity (sometimes called party-and-party costs), which is generally a lower award than the full legal fees actually incurred. Substantial indemnity costs (sometimes called solicitor-and-client costs) are a higher award, typically reserved for cases where the other party has acted in bad faith, breached fiduciary duty, or rejected a reasonable Rule 49 settlement offer — though the exact amount recovered is always within the court's discretion. Full indemnity costs are rare and only awarded in exceptional circumstances.

Costs are not automatic — the winning party must formally request them, and the court exercises discretion based on the outcome, the parties' conduct throughout the litigation, any settlement offers made, and the complexity of the case. The costs award is factored into the overall calculus of whether litigation makes financial sense, because even a winning party absorbs some portion of their legal fees that the court does not order the loser to pay.