Reimbursement of legal fees and costs in civil litigation
in Switzerland
The liquidation of legal fees and legal costs of the parties is governed by Art. 95 ff of the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure (CCP), especially by Art. 106 - 108 CCP.
The general rule is that the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the costs of the procedure and shall reimburse the winning party for it's legal fees and costs of the proceedings. If the court decides partly in favour of the other party a partial reimbursement takes place, and if there is not any clear winner or loser each party bears its own costs.
In some special cases the court can change the costs of the proceedings at it's discretion.
The court fees and fixed costs may be recovered by the successful party from the unsuccessful party. However, in cases with smaller financial interest (less than CHF 50.000) these fixed costs are often significantly less than the acutal costs incurred.