What is the legal test for awarding double costs in a personal injury action?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from P.H. v. Canada (Attorney General), 2016 BCSC 173 (CanLII):

The rationale behind awarding double costs in circumstances where an offer to settle has been made was described in Hartshorne v. Hartshorne, 2011 BCCA 29 at para. 25: An award of double costs is a punitive measure against a litigant for that party’s failure, in all of the circumstances, to have accepted an offer to settle that should have been accepted. Litigants are to be reminded that costs rules are in place “to encourage the early settlement of disputes by rewarding the party who makes a reasonable settlement offer and penalizing the party who declines to accept such an offer” [citations omitted].

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