Miraki v Griffith [2021] NSWCA 263

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Miraki v Griffith [2021] NSWCA 263 Hearing dates: 1 June 2021 Decision date: 29 October 2021 Before: Bell P at [1]; Payne JA at [42]; McCallum JA [45] Decision: Appeal dismissed with costs Catchwords: RESTITUTION – total failure of consideration – prepayment for goods never delivered – where buyer dealt with father and son – payment into account in son's name at his direction – where primary judge accepted son's evidence that the father controlled that account and obtained the benefit of the funds deposited into it – whether son liable to make restitution Legislation Cited: Minors (Property and Contracts) Act 1970 (NSW) s 17 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules r 51.53(1) Cases Cited: ABB Power Generation v Chapple (2001) 25 WAR 158; [2001] WASCA 412 Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited v Westpac Banking Corporation (1988) 164 CLR 662; [1988] HCA 17 Australian Financial Services and Leasing Pty Ltd v Hills Industries Ltd (2014) 253 CLR 560; [2014] HCA 14 Baltic Shipping Co v Dillon (1993) 176 CLR 344 at 376; [1993] HCA 4 BBB Constructions v Aldi Foods [2010] NSWSC 1352 Black v S Freedman & Co (1910) 12 CLR 105; [1910] HCA 58 Brenner v First Artists' Management Pty Ltd [1993] VicRp 71; [1993] 2 VR 221 Coshott v Lenin [2007] NSWCA 153 Dart Industries Inc v Decor Corporation Pty Ltd (1993) 179 CLR 101 Furlong v Wise and Young Pty Ltd [2016] NSWSC 1839 Ilich v R (1987) 162 CLR 110; [1987] HCA 1 Mann v Paterson Constructions Pty Ltd (2019) 267 CLR 560; [2019] HCA 32 Miraki v Griffith [2020] NSWDC 417 Nikolic v Oladaily Pty Ltd [2007] NSWCA 252 Nobarani v Mariconte (2018) 265 CLR 236; [2018] HCA 36 Pavey & Matthews Pty Ltd v Paul (1987) 162 CLR 221; [1987] HCA 5 Robb Evans of Robb Evans & Associates v European Bank Ltd (2004) 61 NSWLR 75; [2004] NSWCA 82 Roxborough v Rothmans of Pall Mall Australia Ltd (2001) 208 CLR 516; [2001] HCA 68 Wasada Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority of New South Wales (No 2) [2003] NSWSC 987 Wickstead v Browne (1992) 30 NSWLR 1 Texts Cited: Ian Jackman, The Varieties of Restitution (2nd ed, 2017, The Federation Press) J Edelman and E Bant, Unjust Enrichment (2nd ed, 2016, Hart Publishing) K Mason, JW Carter and GJ Tolhurst, Restitution Law in Australia (4th ed, 2021, LexisNexis) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Sepideh Miraki (Appellant) Joshua Griffith (First Respondent) Dominic Griffith (Second Respondent) Representation: Counsel: D Allen (Appellant) E A J Hyde, R J Pietriche (First Respondent) No appearance (Second Respondent)