New BC Court Rules Include Court Fee Reductions

The BC Government announced yesterday a number of changes that should help reduce Court costs in this province, including:

• the Province picking up the tab for "up to three days of trial time before litigants are required to pay court fees";
  
• "court fees for filing or responding to a legal claim will be eliminated for parties that engage in mediation prior to commencing a civil action"; and,
  
• a new fast track process to simplify procedures for disputes of less than $100K.

The new rules were initiated by the Justice Review Task Force, and come into force on July 1, 2010.

The rationale behind these changes and an overview of the goals involved are also nicely explained in this Civil Rules Fact Sheet.