What is the onus on a party who seeks to displace the usual rule that costs follow in the event?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Snaw-Naw-As First Nation v Attorney General of Canada, 2020 BCSC 1967 (CanLII):
The onus is on the party who seeks to displace the usual rule that costs follow in the event. This is a “substantial onus”: Gill v. Canada (Minister of Transport), 2014 BCSC 2235 at para. 17.
The discretion of the court to depart from the “usual rule” is limited. As Mr. Justice Williams noted in Staley v. Squirrel Systems of Canada Ltd., 2012 BCSC 954 (aff’d by 2013 BCCA 201):
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