Halifax Crane Hire unsuccessfully sued the law firm for $1119 it claimed was the cost of printing 168 documents requested by Williams & Hughes on behalf of its client, a Harvey winery, which Halifax Crane Hire was suing. During a hearing of the claim on November 1, Mr DeMarte appeared for Halifax Crane Hire and offered unsuccessfully to ‘bear his own costs and just walk out’, before withdrawing the claim at the eleventh hour after Judge Evan Shackleton described the printing costs as “pretty rich”. He was ordered to pay Williams & Hughes legal costs, totalling more than $32,000. Mr DeMarte said at the time if the company was ordered to pay the law firm’s legal costs, he would have to “wind the business up” and 30 people would lose their jobs. “I guess that’s what the small claims tribunal is all about - small claims for costs court is all about - that you don’t think you’re going to be hit with large costs. Things should be fair,” he said in court.

Halifax Crane Hire has since paid the cost order. Dispute after a $2,500 quoted job was invoiced for $32,000 The company also has an ongoing court dispute with Perth man Michael Simm who was sued in July by the crane company after he was invoiced more than $32,000 for a job Halifax Crane Hire originally quoted would cost $2,500. Mr Simm said the job involved moving two dongas off a truck and onto Mr Simm’s family farm in Cape Naturaliste. “We had a simple job which I’ve had many times before, to lift some transportables up off a truck,” he said.

“I usually get charged around the $2000 mark, I was charged $2500 by [Halifax] which I was happy with. “[Halifax] brought the wrong-sized crane, the crane couldn’t lift [the dongas]. We then had to have the dongas returned to his yard for the job to be done the next day [a Wednesday].” Mr Simm flew out on business the next day and asked a family friend, Mark Pace, to attend his property to open the gate when the crane company was next able to complete the job, pending bringing the correct crane. He said Halifax Crane Hire charged for the first unsuccessful attempt to move the dongas, cranes “sitting around” for two days, around seven people working the job, and trucks going back and forth to Bunbury because workers didn’t have enough equipment. “[Halifax] had done the job over a weekend and we basically got an astronomical bill,” Mr Simm said.

“I asked to meet on several occasions to discuss the bill and how it ended up so big which [Halifax] refused and refused and then threatened straight away for legal action.” Mr Simm indicated he would not pay the invoice and engaged a lawyer. In an email to Mr Simm’s lawyer on August 15, Mr DeMarte wrote: “Please be advised that I went along and did the job that you fuch [sic] client requested, we put a hell of amount of effort into that job we got soaked in the process and all we got is legal bills out of this so may I suggest you get off your pony and go down to the property and see what we had to put up with all on his trust. “He gave me a contact for his fuch [sic] head mate of his that instructed us to the mms [sic] and minutes what to do and how to do it and all we are trying to do is get paid so fuch [sic] you, you smart arse little b---h.”

As well as suing Mr Simm, who arranged the job with Halifax Crane Hire through his family trust, Halifax Crane Hire also sued Simmcal Pty Ltd, a company Mr Simm is a co-director of which claims it had no involvement in the job, and Mr Simm’s friend Mark Pace, who opened the gate for the company to transport the dongas onto Mr Simm’s farm while he was overseas. Mr Simm was sued by way of a minor case claim for civil matters under $10,000 as Halifax Crane Hire had issued him with multiple invoices under the threshold amount, but totalling more than $32,000. The crane company discontinued its minor case claim against Mr Simm and others in the Magistrates Court in November 2017, and in December lodged a general procedure claim, applicable for matters valued to $75,000. Mr DeMarte claimed Mr Simm’s job went over the original quote because he was wrongly instructed by Mr Simm to bring a crane that was too small for the lift, a claim Mr Simm denies. “The equipment required was nothing like he told us and the ground was deplorable,” Mr DeMarte said.

“If you engage the services of a crane business and then you’re not paying, is that not fraud?” A long history of litigation Mr DeMarte said his company had suffered financially due to customers not paying for their services. “Do you know how many jobs we do for people that don’t pay their accounts?,” he said. “Unfortunately we’ve trusted a lot of people over the years - our credit system has been a pretty lacklustre affair.

“Guys booking in jobs and then in a week or so we receive a letter from administration.” An Australian Securities and Investments Commission search of entities sued by Halifax since 2005 showed, of the searchable companies, four were registered as being under external administration in March 2018. Mr DeMarte also provided WAtoday with a copy of evidence of another individual, not included on the litigation search for Halifax Crane Hire to August 2017, going into administration. When contacted by WAtoday about its court actions since 2005, Mr DeMarte told the journalist who called him she “would not be living for long” and that he would be ‘hunting her head’ if a story about his company was published. He also threatened to sue Fairfax Media and suggested the journalist “butt out”.