James issued an invalid statutory demand on a customer, following a recent successful judgment in the NSW District Court.
He claims $100k for unpaid debts, plus interest until the date of judgment of $10k, and also a further $5k for post-judgment interest.
James reckons he can claim all of this because his terms and conditions say that his company may charge interest on any unpaid debt.
He serves the statutory demand and after 21 days expires (without response from the defendant) applies to wind-up the customer.
Unfortunately, Justice Black sets aside the statutory demand. James is distraught, he has wasted so much time, energy and money.
What did he do wrong, according to Black J (case link in comments):
– the post-judgment interest could not form part of the judgment debt; and
– the post-judgment interest needed to be verified by affidavit by James.
The prescriptive requirements associated with statutory demands will always take paramountcy for the Court. If in doubt, get specialist legal assistance.
Farid Assaf – your book on statutory demands gets a favourable mention in the case (see from para 26).
Here is a link to the case: http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2017/1617.html
