I was informed today about changes to the small claims legislation that came into effect yesterday which may be of interest to anyone here that does service work or is in a position where they may be exposed to such a claim.
the basics seem to be:
1> The claim does not automatically happen at the location that the work was done or the item sold. If the claimant happens to live 100's of K away from you, the matter can be heard in their area. This may involve substantial travel expenses to attend hearings for the service person.2>Not 100% sure, but there may be provision for the parties to have solicitors in the small claims court. This could potentially be bad for anyone involved in this process, as significant defense costs could be involved, as well as for any party who has to travel, maybe not being able to use their own solicitor.
Don't know what else there is, but this is what is known so far. This is direct from a person I know who is a Queensland mediator in these matters.
I would advise anyone who may be affected to take note of this, may like to review service / repair contracts, policies or similar to ensure that they will take these changes into account.