By Christianne Murphy

We have seen a recent increase in the number of Plaintiff’s counsel requesting an inflationary adjustment on the Bill of Costs. A Bill of Costs is based on Schedule C of the Alberta Rules of Court, which specifies the lawyer’s fees that may be recovered as costs by one party from another.

The argument behind applying an inflationary adjustment is that the tariff in Schedule C was set in 1998 and the Schedule has never been revised for inflation. Plaintiff’s counsel are now frequently arguing that Schedule C fees should be increased by an inflationary factor to reflect inflation between 1998 and the date of settlement. There have been some recent developments in the law in this area, and we wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief update.

Click the PDF below to continue reading.