This is a story about a 'David and Goliath' battle between a group of elderly people living in a retirement village who were in the main aged pensioners and against one of Australia’s largest companies. It will never be a best seller because it does not have any romance, sex, or violence.
The book is based on transcripts of hearings and decisions of the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, submissions, summary and decision of the District Court and minutes of meetings and other records of the Retirement Village Residents Association and a retirement village associated with the case.
The information contained within the story may be of assistance to residents of a retirement village who have to respond to a tribunal application brought by a village operator or who may themselves be anticipating taking their operator to the tribunal.
The names of some of the characters have been changed to avoid embarrassment to any person or organisation, also the number of characters has been reduced to simplify the story. The book is written as a novel and evolves over a thirteen month period.
The story commences with the village residents committee not being able to reach an agreement with the village operator in respect to the 2010-11 village budget. Basically, the village operator was not forthcoming with detailed information regarding two line items, namely Insurance and Head Office management fees.
The budget, upon being presented to the village residents was rejected. This resulted in the matter being taken to the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) by both parties. After several months in which the residents had to prepare a case for submission and presentation to the CTTT, the decision of the CTTT was found in favour of the residents to the extent that some $51,000 was to be removed from the 2010-11 budget.
An Application to appeal the matter to the District Court was lodged by the operator in the week prior to Christmas 2010.
Residents then had to prepare a case to fight the matter in the District Court which they did with the aid of a Solicitor from a small regional practice. The operator had both Solicitor and Barrister from large city law firms.
The matter was heard by the District Court in March and April 2011 and resulted in the Judge ruling that the decision of the CTTT was to be upheld.
Throughout the story the various documents required by the CTTT as well as the district Court are quoted in detail with a full transcript of the CTTT hearing and the District Court Judge’s decision. Although the majority of the names have been changed by the Author to prevent litigation in the case that he may have offended any person, the details of the case are factual.
The book is available through Amazon for $14.50 US which is about $21.00AU plus postage and can be ordered online through Amazon. It is also available in Kindle digital format for $4.50 US which is about $6.25AU.
Author: John Cooper
