In civil law, not all costs are reimbursed in the event of a profit

Litigation costs time and money, while the outcome of proceedings can be uncertain. If the civil court eventually rules in your favor, it will usually order your opponent to pay the costs. A recent case at our firm prompted us to delve deeper into the doctrine of the award of legal costs.

Main rule: litigation cost award

The main rule in civil procedural law is that the losing party is automatically ordered to pay the costs. These costs may include:

• Litigation costs;
• Extrajudicial collection costs;
• Subsequent costs.

Specifically, as the successful party, you may receive compensation for, among other things, your attorney's fees, expert and witness fees, court filing fees and costs of serving the summons and judgment.

The court maintains a flat rate calculation for litigation costs, based on the work performed and the financial importance of the case. This is called the liquidation rate. Because of the liquidation rate, the award of costs usually does not cover the actual costs of the successful party.

However, there are also some exceptions to the main rule that the losing party must reimburse his opposing party's lump sum costs. For example, the parties may have agreed in advance to divide the litigation costs in proceedings in a certain way. Also, in intellectual property rights cases, the court may order the losing party to reimburse the successful party for the full and actual litigation costs. Finally, the civil

let the party that used or caused these costs unnecessarily bear the costs. So keep a grip on the costs, because chances are you will pay for them yourself.

[campaigns]

Exception: cost compensation

In addition, the court may rule that the parties must each bear their own costs. This is called compensation. The judge has some discretion in this regard. The judge regularly proceeds to compensation when the parties are mutually wrong on some points, or when the parties are in a family relationship with each other. The latter was also the case in the case at our office.

Although our client was vindicated, the judge ruled ex officio that both parties had to bear their own costs. This was because the parties had previously had an "affective relationship. This did not factor in that the case was not essentially about the family relationship. Compensation of costs can therefore come into play in family law cases, but also in other types of cases between family members or (former) partners.

The reason for cost compensation in family cases is that the parties still need to get along after the trial, or the cost award may be perceived as a prestige gain. Thus, the court takes into account the emotionally charged nature of a case between family members. Only when it is very evident that one family member is needlessly bringing the other into court may it be contrary to reasonableness and fairness to award costs of litigation.

So keep these rules in mind when you plan to sue someone else. Cost orders or compensation can work to your advantage, but also to your disadvantage. Do you have specific questions about whether or not to litigate? If so, contact one of our specialists!

Written i.c.w. Kenya Limburg.