Jurisdiction is a simply a matter of approaching the correct and most appropriate court.
Although a civil claim can be instituted in High Courts and Lower Courts (Regional & Magistrates Courts), high value claims, that is claims exceeding R 400,000.00 in value, must be instituted in a High Court.
Generally, it makes sense appointing a lawyer in the area where your legal problems arose. If you use a law firm situated in a different area, they will probably have to instruct a correspondent law firm to assist with the claim.
There are exceptions, very important ones.
While the High Court in Johannesburg can attend to any matters in the South-Gauteng area, the High court of Pretoria has jurisdiction to hear any high value matter in the whole of Gauteng.
Why is this important? Because Pretoria based lawyers tend to charge significantly less than their Johannesburg counterparts.
Of course, you cannot trust a generalisation like that, but you can put us to the test.
Make an appointment with HW Theron Inc. today. We are litigation specialists.