Smal claims court increase limit

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

The small claims court jurisdiction has been increased to R12 000 as of 1 November 2010. Another important step to try and make legal recourse available on a cheaper platform.

There have also been some key chnages to magistrate court jurisdiction limits, including the financial restrictions. Divorce actions can now be instituted in certain magistartes courts, whereas previously this was the sole domain of high courts.

[murdock]

many years ago i took a person to small claims court for money he owed me...it went on for 2 years...every time i went to court i would arrive then they would call me out and tell me that the person had some excuse for not being there...be it work commitments...he was sick...out of town...after 2 years i could make it once and they thru it out and told me i had to start the whol process over...the took the law into my own hands and made life for him extremely difficult to a point that he paid me the entire outstanding amount...the plumber and builder never been paid...sometimes when you squeeze something hard enough it has to give.

i would never waste my time in small claims court again...it seemd like a court for maids who take the madem to court...maybe thats why they inceased it.

[Martinco]

took the law into my own hands and made life for him extremely difficult to a point that he paid me the entire outstanding amount...the plumber and builder never been paid...sometimes when you squeeze something hard enough it has to give.

I have found the threat of blacklisting a person/business and actually sending a letter to this effect very often has the desired results. I had this case a month ago with a customer (afraid not any more ) for +- 30K and he paid up pronto. The signs were there that I was going to lose the money so I opted for this route and it paid off.