Litigation Update: Increases in the civil jurisdiction of District and Magistrates Courts

The civil monetary jurisdictions of the Queensland District and Magistrates Courts were recently increased – signalling the first change to monetary jurisdiction in over 10 years.

Read this article to discover what changes have been made and the effect of the changes on potential litigation …

On 13 August 2010, the Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction Reform and Modernisation Amendment Bill 2010 (“the Act”) was assented to. The Act implements the first stage of reforms by the Queensland Government in response to the report by the Honourable Martin Moynihan AO QC.

What is the object of the Act?

The Act intends to modernise and streamline the civil and criminal justice system in Queensland, thus ensuring the more effective use of public resources and delivering improved justice to Queenslanders.

Changes to monetary limits

The Act significantly increases the civil monetary jurisdictions of the District and Magistrates Court.

The Act states that a party cannot apply to remove, to the District Court, a proceeding pending in the Supreme Court which could now be brought in the District Court because of that court’s increased monetary jurisdiction.

How does this affect you?

It should be noted that the above changes to the civil jurisdiction of the Queensland Courts took effect from 1 November 2010. The changes are not retrospective, therefore, will not affect clients who commenced litigation prior to this date.

For example, a claim started in the Supreme Court on 30 October 2010 for $270,000 does not need to be remitted to the District Court after 1 November 2010. The same applies to claims filed in the District Court.

Conclusion

The reforms will without doubt greatly increase the workload of the Magistrates and District Courts and it remains to be seen how effectively and efficiently those courts are resourced to cope with their new workload. The changes will hopefully relieve the huge caseload pressure felt by the Supreme Court and in turn positively affect the court’s efficiency and promptness in proceedings.

The Government implemented the changes to modernise and streamline the Queensland Courts. We hope to see the envisaged increase in efficiency and effectiveness of the Courts for the benefit of our future litigants.

Andrew Frieberg is an experienced Litigation Lawyer and Partner of Ffrench Legal. To discuss any of the contents of this article,
please email Andrew at afrieberg@ffrenchlegal.com or phone him on +61 7 5591 7555.

This article is intended to assist you in ensuring your business achieves maximum potential with or without the assistance of Ffrench Legal.

It does not constitute any form of legal advice.