What is the impact of bad faith in determining costs in a personal injury action?

The general conduct of the parties is one of the major factors in determining costs, even if their conduct falls short of bad faith. As Campbell J. highlighted in Parsons v. Parsons, 2002 CarswellOnt 2536 (S.C.J.): [W]hen the respondents have acted unreasonably, the applicants should not have to financially "pick-up" or absorb the result of those respondents' impulsive and punitive decisions. While the court recognizes that costs orders may "fan the fires", I interpret the rules as recognizing that there must be consequences for unreasonableness. There is an element of behaviour modification to a costs order in that it encourages a change in attitude from a "litigate with impunity" mindset.