What is the test for awarding costs in personal injury cases?

In Fotheringham v. Fotheringham, 2001 BCSC 1321, [2001] B.C.J. No. 2083 (B.C.S.C.) Bouck J., used a four-step inquiry to determine whether the court should award costs. The four-step inquiry involves: (1) focussing on the matters in dispute in the proceedings and assessing who succeeded on the matters in dispute, (2) assessing the weight or importance of those matters to the litigants, (3) doing a global determination of which party substantially succeeded overall, and (4) where one party substantially succeeded, considering whether there are reasons to “otherwise order”.