District WA Court, page-14

@koparoma the limits that you refer to apply for the Court's jurisdiction - for the District Court in WA the claim limit is $750 000 for a civil matter and unlimited for a personal injury claim. There is no monetary limit per se for a case that the Registrar can hear, but there are other factors and I have copied these from the Court rules below. I am not familiar with the Registrar that heard the matter, so not sure if they are a legally qualified or lay Registrar, although I would be leaning towards the legally qualified given that they are dealing with this matter.

Careful reading of the Rules may indicate the likely grounds of the matter but again until there is a release to the market of the grounds for the action, any thoughts about what the matter relates to is simply unsubstantiated and could well be very wrong.


DISTRICT COURT RULES 2005 - REG 8
mce-anchormce-anchormce-anchormce-anchor8 . Registrars’ general jurisdiction

(1) A legally qualified registrar may deal with any proceedings that a judge may deal with in chambers other than —
(a) proceedings involving a review of the taxation of costs; and
(b) proceedings in relation to an originating summons that raises for determination —
(i) a question of law; or
(ii) a question as to the construction of a statute or document; or
(iii) a question arising out of an interest in land; or
(iv) a question arising out of or connected with a contract between a vendor and purchaser of land;
and
(c) proceedings claiming an injunction or other order under the Supreme Court Act 1935 section 25(9); and
(d) proceedings that under rules of court are to be dealt with by a judge; and
(e) proceedings that the Chief Judge directs are to be dealt with by a judge.
(2) A lay registrar may do any of the following —
(a) conduct a case management hearing under Part 4 and make any order that may be made at such a hearing;
(b) conduct a pre‑trial conference under Part 4 and make any order that may be made at such a conference;
(c) conduct a listing conference under Part 4 and make any order that may be made at such a conference;
(d) during the conduct of a pre‑trial conference or a listing conference, settle, sign and seal an order under the RSC Order 43 rule 16;
(e) at times other than during the conduct of a pre‑trial conference or a listing conference, settle, sign and seal an order under the RSC Order 43 rule 16 if the solicitors for the parties to proceedings have, under that rule, filed a written consent to the making of the order.