For the first time ever, the Commissioner of Competition ("Commissioner") has been ordered to pay the costs of a successful defendant to litigation before the Competition Tribunal (the "Tribunal"). 
 
On May 4, 2005, the Tribunal ordered the Commissioner to pay the costs incurred by Canada Pipe Company Ltd. ("Canada Pipe") in successfully defending itself against the Commissioner's claims that it had breached the abuse of dominance and exclusive dealing provisions in the Competition Act.  All of the Commissioner's claims were dismissed by the Tribunal in a unanimous decision issued on February 3, 2005.

In its decision awarding costs, the Tribunal ruled that "the novel economic issues and the amount of work involved in the preparation and conduct of the case, which was national in scope, warrant an upward adjustment of the costs".  In addition, the Tribunal ordered the Commissioner to pay Canada Pipe 150% of its tariffed fees from the date of a settlement offer made by Canada Pipe, which would have ended the litigation but which the Commissioner refused.

The Tribunal's order is the first to require the Commissioner to pay litigation costs since legislative amendments were passed in June 2002 empowering the Tribunal to award the costs of proceedings before it in accordance with the rules applicable in the Federal Court of Canada.  Previously, the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to award costs.

Canada Pipe was represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.

A copy of the Tribunal's order is available on the Tribunal's website at http://www.ct-tc.gc.ca/english/CaseDetails.asp?x=228&CaseID=163#216

For more information on the Canada Pipe Win of a Landmark Abuse of Dominance Case click here.

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The foregoing is a summary of a recent development in competition law. If you would like additional information about this topic or any aspect of Canadian competition law, please contact George Addy, Ed Babin, Anita Banicevic, Milos Barutciski, James Doris, Hillel Rosen, Kent Thomson, Charles Tingley or any other member of the Competition and International Trade Practice Group at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP at (416) 863-0900 (Toronto) or (514) 841-6400 (Montréal).