Jacobs v Abercrombie

[2012] QDC 127

[2012] QDC 127

DISTRICT COURT

CIVIL JURISDICTION

JUDGE ROBIN QC

No 1501 of 2012

CATHERINE NANCY JACOBS	Applicant
and
PAUL ABERCROMBIE	Defendant

BRISBANE

..DATE 20/04/2012

ORDER

CATCHWORDS

District Court of Queensland Act 1967 s 79

Transfer of money claim to District Court from Magistrate Court - freezing (Mareva) order to protect the value of any judgement the plaintiff might obtain was not available otherwise
HIS HONOUR: The Court makes two orders in terms of initialled drafts by consent. The proceeding in this Court is an originating application filed the 18th of April 2012 seeking transfer to this Court of a Magistrates Court proceeding, claim BN13698 of 2011 under section 79 of the District Court of Queensland 1967.

The reason for the transfer being sought is not the usual one to do with the upper limit of the Magistrates Court's monetary jurisdiction but rather the plaintiff's apprehension that a freezing order, formerly a Mareva order, appears to her to be necessary to protect the value of a judgment she might obtain in the Magistrates Court proceeding which comes well within the current monetary limit.

That appears to me to satisfy the requirement of section 79 that there be a relief or remedy sought which would be available if the action or proceeding were transferred here which is not available in the Magistrates Court, that being the freezing order. There is a subsidiary interlocutory application filed on the same day with the originating application seeking such a freezing order.

The defendant is agreeable to both orders being made - the freezing order on an interim basis which will permit review or further consideration of its continued appropriateness on the 8th of May, to which date everything is adjourned.

There are two separate draft orders which actually bear the signatures of the parties' lawyers and they've been now initialled by me and set out the terms of the Court's orders today.

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