What are the purposes of a court's costs policy?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from McIntyre v. Winter, 2020 ONSC 6259 (CanLII):

In Mattina v. Mattina, 2018 ONCA 867, the court set out the four fundamental purposes of costs being to partially indemnify successful litigants, to encourage settlement, to discourage and sanction inappropriate behaviour by litigants and to ensure that cases are dealt with justly.

In Beaver v. Hill, 2018 ONCA 840, the court indicated that cost awards are discretionary and two important principles in exercising discretion are reasonableness and proportionality.

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