Who has to pay the costs if I lose a court case?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

If you lose entirely, the judge will normally order you to pay the other side's costs, that is, what they have paid their lawyer, their court agent (“procurador”) and their experts. The judge will not order you to pay them if the case raised serious doubts of fact or law. If you lose only in part, each side generally pays its own. What is paid for the other side's lawyer and experts is capped and, if a lawyer was not compulsory, as in claims of up to 2.000 euros, in principle you do not pay for the other side's lawyer. When there is a costs order Costs are the expenses the case has caused the other side, above all the fees of their experts and those of their lawyer and court agent when the law requires them. The “Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil”, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, follows the loser-pays principle, under which the costs are paid by whoever has everything they asked for rejected. The judge decides in the judgment and may depart from that rule in these cases: If the case raised serious doubts of fact or law, for example because the courts were deciding similar cases differently. The judge must explain this in the judgment. If you lose only in part. Each side then pays its own costs and the common costs are split equally, unless the judge finds recklessness (“temeridad”) on the part of one of them, which means litigating in the knowledge that one is in the wrong. The prior attempt to reach an agreement The law generally requires an attempt to reach an agreement before suing, for example through negotiation or mediation. How each party behaved in that attempt can change who pays the costs: If you proposed negotiating and the other side refused to take part, the law exempts you from paying the costs even if you lose, unless the judge finds that you have abused the public justice service, that is, that you have used the courts without justification. If the winning party refused without good cause to take part in the attempt to which they were invited, when it was compulsory or had been ordered by the court, they will not recover their costs. If you were the one who failed to attend without good reason, you may have to pay them even if you lose only in part. How much is paid What is paid for the other side's lawyer and experts cannot exceed, in total, one third of the value of the case for each winning party. The value of the case is its economic value, which in a money claim is the amount claimed. For example, in a case worth 12.000 euros, the losing party does not pay more than 4.000 euros under those heads to each winning opponent, unless the judge declares the losing party reckless. The exact figure is set by the court clerk (“letrado de la Administración de Justicia”), the official who runs the court office, in the assessment of costs, which can be challenged. If a lawyer and a court agent were not compulsory, as in “juicio verbal” cases (the simplified procedure) of up to 2.000 euros, their fees are in principle excluded from the costs. So, if in such a case you went without a lawyer and the other side had one, you will generally not have to pay for that lawyer even if you lose. The exceptions are where the judge finds recklessness or abuse, where the winning party is domiciled in another judicial district, that is, outside the area covered by the court, or where they are a consumer who sued you after claiming from you out of court. Anyone who has been granted legal aid (“justicia gratuita”) is subject to their own rules, which are a separate matter.