Jiang v Chen [2020] NSWSC 768

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Jiang v Chen [2020] NSWSC 768 Hearing dates: 4, 5, 6 & 11 March 2020 Date of orders: 19 June 2020 Decision date: 19 June 2020 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Slattery J Decision: Defendant declared to hold $60,000 and HKD11,100 on trust for the plaintiff. The Defendant's refusal to return the trust money after a request by the plaintiffs declared to be a breach of trust. Directions made for the calculation of interest. Parties ordered to put on submissions as to costs. Catchwords: EQUITY – Trusts and trustees – Breaches of trust – Misappropriation of trust property – elderly couple entrust cash to former daughter-in-law, the defendant, requesting her to transfer the money to China and make it available again to them again in China – the plaintiffs and the defendant travel from Sydney to Shanghai but upon the plaintiffs requesting the return of the cash, the defendant declines, contending that no cash was ever given to her – whether the plaintiffs gave any cash to the defendant – no issue that the defendant did not return the cash – whether a trust was created by the transfer of the funds – whether the non-return of the cash to the plaintiffs was a breach of trust. Legislation Cited: Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) Trustee Act 1925, s 23C(1)(c) Cases Cited: Jones v Locke (1865) 1 Ch App 25 Category: Principal judgment Parties: First Plaintiff: Xiu Jiang Second Plaintiff: Lun Zhu Defendant: Ya Juan Chen Representation: Counsel: Plaintiffs: T.J. Morahan Defendant: H. Jewell