Did you know that there are all kinds of costs involved in going to court, not just the cost of getting a lawyer? Even if you win your case, court tariffs mean you can only recover a certain amount of legal costs. Scorpion Legal Protection explains.
The general rule is that if you win, you can recover costs from the losing party. But how much you can recover depends on what kind of costs are ordered by the court.
Tariff for Magistrate’s and High Courts
The tariffs for Magistrates’ Courts and High Courts are different. The tariff for Magistrates’ Courts work in scales, from A to D. Scale A allows the lowest proportion of legal costs to be recovered, while Scale D allows the highest.
Legal costs awarded by a High Court usually include advocates’ fees. Costs awarded by a Magistrate’s Court don’t, unless a judge specifically orders that they be included.
Legal costs can be divided into three categories:
Party and party costs
These are the costs from prosecuting or defending a claim in court, and they’re specific to the court case. It is the most commonly awarded cost. It covers the cost of meetings your lawyer had with the other party’s lawyer as part of your case. It does not include any costs from before you went to court, before a summons or notice of motion was issued and served. It doesn’t include the cost of meetings between you and your lawyer.
Party and party costs are also subject to court tariffs, which are set by law and charged according to fixed scales – so the amount you can recover from the losing party is also determined by the tariff.
Attorney and client costs
This covers a lot more, but is not often awarded. Attorney and client costs mean all legal costs, including the cost of meetings between you and your lawyer. Usually this is awarded if the case was about a contractual dispute and it was a specific term of the contract that attorney and client costs would be payable in the event of such a dispute. It can also be awarded if the court believes that a punitive costs order is warranted.
Attorney and client costs are also subject to the court tariffs.
Attorney and ‘own’ client costs
This is the fees you owe to your lawyer based on the agreement you signed. It is not usually awarded by the court.
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If you have a query, follow Scorpion Legal Protection on Facebook and ask your question during our next Live Q&A (every first Thursday of the month).
* This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. The information is correct at the time of being sent to publishing.