Legal Definitions - higher scale

In legal contexts, the term higher scale refers to a situation where a court or legal authority determines that a greater amount of fees, costs, or damages should be awarded than what would typically be granted under standard rules or a basic schedule. This often occurs when a case is particularly complex, involves significant public interest, requires extraordinary effort from legal professionals, or results in unusually severe harm.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Complex Commercial Litigation: Imagine two large technology companies engaged in a lawsuit over a highly intricate patent infringement. The case involves extensive discovery of millions of documents, numerous expert witnesses from specialized fields, and takes several years to resolve. The winning company's legal team might petition the court for their legal costs to be awarded on a higher scale. This is because the standard scale of legal costs, which applies to more typical cases, would not adequately cover the immense resources, specialized expertise, and prolonged effort required to successfully litigate such a complex and high-stakes matter. The court might agree, awarding a greater percentage of their actual legal fees than usual.

• Defamation with Widespread Harm: Consider a situation where a prominent scientist is falsely accused of academic fraud by a major national newspaper. The false accusation is published widely, leading to the scientist losing their research funding, professional reputation, and experiencing severe emotional distress. While general damages for defamation would be awarded, the court might decide to award damages on a higher scale. This decision would reflect the extraordinary reach of the false publication, the high professional standing of the victim, and the profound, lasting impact on their career and personal life, going beyond what a typical defamation award might entail for a less prominent individual or less widespread publication.

• Specialized Expert Witness Fees: In a medical malpractice case involving a rare neurological condition, the plaintiff needs to secure testimony from a handful of world-renowned specialists who are the only experts in that specific field. These experts command very high fees for their time and testimony due to their unique knowledge and limited availability. If the plaintiff wins the case, their legal team might request that the reimbursement for these expert witness fees be approved on a higher scale. The court would acknowledge that the standard fee schedule for expert witnesses would not cover the actual, necessary costs of securing such rare and crucial expertise, which was indispensable for proving the case.