McDaid t/as Super Cheap Framing v Arnold

QUEENSLAND CIVIL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL

CITATION:

McDaid t/as Super Cheap Framing v Arnold [2021] QCATA 5

PARTIES:

JOHN MCDAID T/AS SUPER CHEAP FRAMING

(appellant)

v

NATALIE ARNOLD

(respondent)

APPLICATION NO/S:

APL197-19

ORIGINATING APPLICATION NO/S:

MCDO 142/19 (Southport)

MATTER TYPE:

Appeals

DELIVERED ON:

12 January 2021

HEARING DATE:

14 December 2020

HEARD AT:

Brisbane

DECISION OF:

Member Gordon

ORDERS:

1.   Leave to appeal against the decision made on 16 July 2019 in MCDO 142/19 (Southport) is granted.

2.   The appeal is allowed.

3.   The decision made on 16 July 2019 in MCDO 142/19 (Southport) is set aside and the following decision is substituted:

‘1.   On the application by John McDaid, the default decision dated 21 June 2019 requiring him to pay Mrs Natalie Arnold the sum of $406.35 is set aside.

‘2.   MCDO 142/19 shall be listed for hearing in the Minor Civil Disputes list.’

4.   Natalie Arnold is ordered to pay to John McDaid the filing fee that he paid when lodging this appeal in the sum of $345.80.

CATCHWORDS:

PROCEDURE – CIVIL PROCEEDINGS IN STATE AND TERRITORY COURTS – ENDING PROCEEDINGS EARLY – DEFAULT JUDGMENT – SETTING ASIDE – PROCEDURAL AND OTHER MATTERS – where a minor civil dispute application was not served in accordance with the rules and there was no proof that the respondent had received it – where the default decision included a costs award in excess of the tribunal’s power to award – whether the default decision was irregular – whether it should have been set aside

APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – PROCEDURE – QUEENSLAND – POWERS OF COURT – COSTS – where there was a successful appeal from a tribunal decision in a minor civil dispute – where the appellant applied for costs – whether the Appeal Tribunal can award costs in an appeal in a minor civil dispute – whether it is right to award costs in this instance

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) s 50, s 102
Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Rules 2009 (Qld) r 38, r 42, r 84

Maszlik v Lorraine Palmer t/as Bundaberg Park Lodge [2016] QCATA 94
McCracken v Nespoli [2020] QCATA 107
Sommers v Bycroft [2020] QCATA 55

APPEARANCES & REPRESENTATION:
Appellant:	Self-represented
Respondent:	Self-represented

REASONS FOR DECISION

1. This appeal is from a decision of the tribunal refusing to set aside a default decision.

2. The facts can be stated very briefly.  John McDaid is in business as a picture framer.  He supplied a frame for Natalie Arnold for which she had paid $280.  When she saw the frame she was unhappy with it.  No agreement having been reached about what to do, Mrs Arnold applied to the tribunal in its minor civil dispute jurisdiction for the return of the $280 plus some costs.

3. Mrs Arnold brought her claim as a minor debt claim using Form 3.  Form 3 requires a response from the respondent, and if there is no response an applicant can ask for a default decision.  This is what happened, and…