Chapter Second: Costs of Proceedings

Article 540

The costs of litigation include judicial fees, witness compensation, expert fees, and costs of procedures defined officially, and attorney's fees.

Article 541

1. The court shall, when issuing a judgment that puts an end to the dispute, rule ex officio on the costs of the trial. 2. The costs of the trial shall be borne by the losing party. 3. If there are multiple losing parties, the court may rule that the costs be divided between them equally or in proportion to the extent of each party's liability, as determined by the court. 4. If the court rules that the parties are liable for the costs without specifying the proportion to be borne by each, the costs shall be divided between them equally. 5. The parties shall be held jointly and severally liable for the costs if they are jointly and severally liable for the underlying obligation that is the subject of the judgment.

Article 542

The court may order the prevailing party to pay all or part of the costs if the right is admitted by the judgment debtor before the suit is filed or if the prevailing party caused by his fault additional or unnecessary costs, or if he abandoned the.

Article 543

If it appears that each of the litigants is partially unjustified in some of their requests, the court may distribute the expenses between them in the manner it deems appropriate or may order one of them to bear the expenses.

Article 544

1. The costs of intervention shall be borne by the intervenor if the court rules to reject his intervention or dismiss his requests.

Article 545

1. A lawyer may be personally sentenced to pay the expenses related to a trial, or procedures, or enforcement actions that he initiated, exceeding the limits of his agency.

Article 546

The costs related to a suit or proceedings or an unnecessary enforcement proceeding shall be borne by the lawyer or judicial assistant who undertook it, without prejudice to compensation that may be demanded when appropriate. This shall also apply to the costs of proceedings.

Article 547

The amount of expenses is determined in the judgment that decides the case, and in the event of its non-determination, the President of the Court Registry shall state it at the bottom of the enforceable copy of the judgment or in a subsequent statement that is considered an executive bond.

Article 548

1. An objection to the decision determining the expenses may be filed within three days from the notification of the judgment or the statement of expenses, by means of a declaration to the court clerk, exempt from fees.

Article 549

The objection is submitted to the court that issued the judgment, which shall consider it in the deliberation chamber after summoning the parties or the objecting party to attend with a twenty-four hour notice if the situation so requires.

Article 550

1. The plaintiff in a counterclaim shall not be condemned to pay the costs of the trial.

Article 551

The court shall rule on compensation for any harm resulting from a claim, defense, or plea made with the intention of causing harm. It may also, when it deems it grossly unfair to leave the expenses not included in the trial costs on the shoulders of one of the parties who incurred them, order the other party to pay the amount it determines.