Shoddy removalists?
1. The removalist company brought a claim against LCG at VCAT following the non-payment of $1,988.48 after the removalist company provided packing services when LCG was moving house. The tribunal member invited the parties to negotiate a settlement while he left the room. Upon his return, the member assisted the parties to reach agreement on the final amount of settlement, an amount that then formed the basis of the member’s order. This part of the resolution was conducted as a mediation conference, with the VCAT member acting as the mediator.Neither party was particularly happy with this negotiated outcome. At a later hearing, Senior Member Ian Proctor ordered LCG to pay the applicant $1,640.28.
2. The two parties negotiated a settlement and ‘consented’ to an order by VCAT that LCG pay the applicant a total of $1550 in fortnightly instalments of $200.
3. A number of problems can occur with a negotiated outcome, including parties not being willing to understand or consider the interests of the other party, parties lacking patience, parties being unprepared for negotiation, parties being too rigid or unwilling to compromise, one party dominating the other and obtaining an outcome they were not otherwise entitled to, or neither parties feeling satisfied with the outcome.
4. The negotiated outcome was made binding on the parties when VCAT ordered LCG to pay the applicant $1,550in fortnightly instalments of $200.