Matthews v Reardon Towing Pty Ltd

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

Matthews v Reardon Towing Pty Ltd [2022] QCATA 17

PARTIES:

VALERIE MATTHEWS

(applicant/appellant)

v

REARDON TOWING PTY LTD

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL052-20

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

MCDO123-19

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

10 February 2022

HEARING DATE:

On the papers

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Judicial Member D J McGill SC

ORDERS:

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

CATCHWORDS:

TORTS – NEGLIGENCE – DAMAGE AND CAUSATION – CAUSATION – damage to car caused negligently by tow truck operator – whether other damage to car also caused at that time – whether grounds to interfere with decision at first instance – leave to appeal refused

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) s 13, s 28(3)(a), s 142(3)(a)(i).

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION:

Applicant:

Self-represented

Respondent:

Self-represented

This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld)

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. This is an application for leave to appeal from the decision of a Member of the Tribunal in a Minor Civil Debt claim. The appellant is the owner of a motor vehicle which was moved by the respondent using a tilt tray truck, as a result of which the appellant claimed it had been damaged negligently. The appellant was partly successful in her claim, the Member on 28 January 2020 ordering that the respondent pay her $2,077.64. She seeks leave to appeal against that decision, on the ground that the amount awarded was inadequate.

2. Because this matter was a minor civil dispute, leave is required to appeal to the Appeal Tribunal.[1] As a general proposition, when leave to appeal to the Appeal Tribunal is required, it will be granted only where there is a reasonable argument that the decision was attended by error and an appeal is necessary to correct a substantial injustice caused by that error, or where the appeal raises a question of general importance upon which further argument and a decision of the Appeal Tribunal would be to the public advantage.[2] In deciding whether grounds for leave to appeal have been shown, it is relevant to consider that the proceeding was a minor civil dispute, and the obligation on the Tribunal was to make orders it considered to be fair and equitable to the parties to the proceeding in order to resolve the dispute: the QCAT Act s 13(1). The Tribunal was also required to comply with the QCAT Act s 28 and s 29.

   [1]Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (“the QCAT Act”) s 142(3)(a)(i).

   [2]Crime and Corruption Commission v Lee [2019] QCATA 38 at [12], citing appellate authority. See also Campbell v Queensland Building and Construction Commission [2021] QCATA 34 at [17].

Decision of the Member

1. The Member set out the background to the claim. The appellant’s car broke down while she was near Casino in New South Wales. The appellant said in evidence that her mechanical problem was a failure of the transmission…