When you’ve been wronged, court can feel like the obvious answer. Someone hears both sides, decides who’s right and makes the other party pay. Sometimes that’s exactly how it goes. More often, the question that matters isn’t whether you’re right. It’s whether going to court will leave you better off.
Winning doesn’t mean getting your costs back
In most Australian courts, the losing side is usually ordered to pay part of the winner’s legal costs. Part, not all. The amount recovered is assessed on a scale and is often well short of what was actually spent. And an order for costs is only as good as the other side’s ability to pay it.
So a strong claim for a modest sum can still lose money once costs are counted. That’s worth knowing at the start, not at the end.
Put three numbers on paper
what you could realistically recover, in the best case and the likely case;
what it will cost to get there, stage by stage;
how long it will take, including the time you’ll spend on it yourself.
We give clients these numbers in writing before anything is filed, and update them as the matter moves. If they stop adding up, you’ll hear it from us first.
Most cases settle, so plan for it
The great majority of civil disputes settle before a final hearing, many at a mediation the court requires. A good settlement is often reached sooner, and for less, than a judgment. Preparing as if you’ll go to trial, while watching for the right moment to settle, usually produces the best result.
A well-timed written offer can also shift the risk of costs onto the other side if they refuse it and then do worse at trial. It’s one of the most useful tools in a dispute, and one of the least understood.
What the steps usually look like
Most civil claims follow a similar path. Proceedings are filed and served, the other side files a defence, and both sides exchange relevant documents. Witness statements and expert reports follow. Somewhere along the way, usually well before trial, the court orders a mediation. Only a small share of cases ever reach a final hearing.
Each step has a cost, and the largest costs tend to arrive late: preparing witnesses, briefing a barrister and the hearing itself. The earlier you can see where a matter is heading, the more choices you have.
Alternatives worth weighing
Court isn’t the only way to a binding result. Depending on the dispute, there may be a tribunal, an industry ombudsman or an arbitration clause in your contract. In Victoria, many smaller civil disputes go to VCAT, where the process is simpler and each side usually pays its own costs. A negotiated settlement, properly documented, can be made as enforceable as a court order.
Your time counts too
Litigation takes time nobody bills you for: finding documents, reading drafts, preparing to give evidence and waiting. For a business owner, that’s time away from the business. For anyone, it’s months of a dispute sitting at the back of your mind. Put a value on that as well.
Collecting is a separate question
Before you start, ask whether the other side can pay. A judgment against a company with no assets, or a person who can’t meet it, may cost more to enforce than it returns. A quick search of their property and company records is cheap and often decisive.
When court is the right call
Sometimes it plainly is: when the amount is significant, the evidence is strong, the other side can pay, or there’s a principle you need a court to decide. Then the job is to run the matter efficiently and keep you informed at every step.
Ruth and Liam will give you a frank written assessment before anything is filed: the likely range of outcomes, the cost of each stage and their recommendation. If the honest answer is that it isn’t worth it, that’s what you’ll be told.
