Reasonableness Test in Determining the Amount of Court Expenses in the Civil and Arbitration Process

Reimbursement of court expenses incurred by a party when applying to the court is a guarantee of accessibility of justice. Legal relations for reimbursement of court expenses are not regulated in detail. The content of the reasonableness criterion is not disclosed by law. The evaluative nature of the concept of «reasonableness» gives a court almost unlimited freedom in assessing court expenses. Significant uncertainty criteria of reasonableness in assessing the amount of court expenses limiting the accessibility of justice for citizens and organizations. А new approach of understanding the reasonable limits of court costs is needed now. The new approach should ensure the most complete recovery of incurred costs, but should not violate the rights of the party who lost the lawsuit. As a result, we have concluded that the existing approach to the reasonableness of court expenses is inconsistent. The author formulates his own definition of the key evaluative concepts: «reasonable legal expenses» and «excessive legal expenses». The author have formulated a rule of burden-sharing to prove the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the costs incurred. The conclusion about the need to reduce the extent of judicial activism in the resolution of the question of the recovery of legal expenses.