Smithy's On The Park Pty Ltd v Green
[2017] QCAT 43
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- Unreported Judgment
- Smithy's On The Park Pty Ltd v Green[2017] QCAT 43
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Smithy's On The Park Pty Ltd v Green[2017] QCAT 43
Smithy's On The Park Pty Ltd v Green[2017] QCAT 43
CITATION: | Smithy’s On The Park Pty Ltd v Green [2017] QCAT 43 |
PARTIES: | Smithy’s On The Park Pty Ltd (Applicant) v Kirsty Green (Respondent) |
APPLICATION NUMBER: | MCDO53463-16 |
MATTER TYPE: | Other minor civil dispute matters |
HEARING DATE: | On the papers |
HEARD AT: | Brisbane |
DECISION OF: | Adjudicator Bertelsen |
DELIVERED ON: | 23 January 2017 |
DELIVERED AT: | Brisbane |
ORDERS MADE: |
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CATCHWORDS: | Minor debt claim – $25,000.00 monetary limit inclusive of debt and interest – debt and interest exceeding $25,000.00 – claim not capped – monetary jurisdiction exceeded Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Rules 2009 (Qld), Rule 84 |
APPEARANCES: |
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This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (QCAT Act).
REASONS FOR DECISION
- [1]On 2 September 2016, the applicant – Smithy’s On The Park Pty Ltd (Smithy’s) filed a Minor Civil Dispute – Minor Debt claim for restaurant supplies sold and delivered as well as rental at 15% turnover, in the sum of $22,261.00, together with interest at $3,976.96, a total of $26,237.96.
- [2]QCAT’s Minor Civil Dispute – Minor Debt jurisdiction is limited to $25,000.00. That is inclusive of claim and any interest sought to be recovered on that claim. Here that amounts to $26,237.96. The only additional sums that can be awarded are filing fees, search fees, service fees and CITEC fees.[1]
- [3]The Tribunal’s Minor Civil Dispute jurisdiction can be enlivened by an applicant limiting a claim to $25,000.00 (capping the claim), even though on the face of it the quantum of such claim may exceed $25,000.00. There is no evidence here of the applicant limiting its claim to $25,000.00. On the contrary, the applicant’s affidavit in support of the request for decision by default stated ‘the amount of $26,663.83 remains owing to the applicant in respect of the claim’.
- [4]Though not necessary to determine that aspect of the claim here, it may well be that the rental/turnover portion of the claim is not strictly a debt, being a percentage of turnover which presumably in itself is a sum to be determined according to usual accounting principles, as opposed to a rental figure recited, for instance, on the face of a lease. In any event, there is no detail in the initiating application as to what documentation, if any, governed the assessment of rent payable.
- [5]In the circumstances the application ought properly be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Footnotes
[1]Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Rules 2009 (Qld), Rule 84.