257Personal actions at law—amount or value

257 Personal actions at law—amount or value (1) The Magistrates Court has jurisdiction to hear and decide any personal action at law if the amount claimed is not more than $250 000, including a personal action at law if— (a) the amount claimed is the amount owing on a balance of account, after an admitted set-off or otherwise; or (b) any amount in excess of $250 000 to which the plaintiff may be entitled in relation to the cause of action is abandoned in accordance with the rules. (2) If the amount claimed in a personal action includes interest up to judgment, or a lump sum instead of interest, in accordance with the rules, the interest is disregarded in working out whether or not the court has jurisdiction. (3) For this section, a personal action at law includes an action relating to the detention of goods, and the amount claimed in the action is the value of the goods plus any amount claimed for damages for the detention of the goods. (4) Subsection (1) does not limit the court’s jurisdiction if, under another law in force in the ACT, an amount may be recovered by action in the court (even if the amount is more than $250 000). Example—s (4) jurisdiction under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth), ch 4, pt 4-1 (Civil remedies) to award an amount of more than $250 000 in compensation for loss (5) The court’s jurisdiction under subsection (1) is additional to any jurisdiction that the court has under any other law in force in the ACT. Example—s (5) jurisdiction under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth), chapter 4, part 4-1 (Civil remedies) to make orders in relation to contraventions of certain civil remedy provisions under that Act