Claim for > $10,000

You can commence a minor case (i.e. a small claim) in the Magistrates Court where the value of the claim is $10,000 or less (Magistrates Court (Civil Proceedings) Act 2004 s 3(1)).

Parties in minor cases are not usually represented by lawyers because, a Magistrate must first make an order giving leave for a lawyer to appear for a party and parties cannot recover legal costs in minor case proceedings.

Therefore, $10,000 is the sensible cut off for whether to engage a lawyer.

If you are claiming $10,000 or less from someone, you can pursue these options:

Option 1 (do-it-yourself):

Start a minor case, in which all parties are self-represented (unless the Court gives leave for a party to be represented by a lawyer).  

The Court will only award what are called "allowable costs" to a successful party.

Allowable costs do not include legal costs paid to a lawyer, but include things like Court filing fees.

Option 2 (hire a lawyer anyway):

Commence a case by a way of a document lodged with the Court called a “General Procedure Claim” in which you are represented by a lawyer.

However, accept that you can only get an order made by the Court for your legal costs to be paid by the unsuccessful party if:

• the Court is satisfied that there were "exceptional circumstances". These orders are rare.
• you make an application for summary judgment and succeed.  In which case you can get the legal costs of the summary judgment application.