4. What costs can a litigant in person recover on taxation?

4. What costs can a litigant in person recover on taxation? 

General entitlement 

On taxation of the costs of a litigant in person, the court may allow costs for work done and disbursements made that would have been allowed if a solicitor had acted on the litigant’s behalf. This rule applies to individuals, companies, and corporations acting without legal representation, but excludes litigants who are practising solicitors. 

Litigants with pecuniary loss 

If a litigant in person is gainfully employed and is required to handle litigation work during his normal working hours, he may claim for pecuniary loss. The amount allowed for any item (excluding disbursements) is at the discretion of the taxing master but is strictly capped at two-thirds of the sum that would have been allowed if the litigant had been represented by a solicitor. 

Litigants without pecuniary loss 

If a litigant has no job, is retired, or handles the litigation in his spare time, he is deemed to have suffered no pecuniary loss. In such cases, the litigant is only allowed to claim for the time reasonably spent on the work at a rate determined by the taxing master, which cannot exceed $200 per hour. The master may allow a lower rate depending on the complexity of the work. 

Calculation of time 

For both types of claims, the “time spent” is not the actual duration the litigant took to complete a task. Instead, the taxing master allows only the amount of time a solicitor would have reasonably taken to perform that same task.