Miller & Anor v Harris [2013] NSWSC 1902

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Miller & Anor v Harris [2013] NSWSC 1902 Hearing dates: 24 October 2013 Decision date: 18 December 2013 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Slattery J Decision: Judgment for the plaintiffs. Catchwords: EQUITY - claim for equitable contribution between joint debtors - all parties were previously guarantors of a debt of a company managed by the defendant -company defaulted - the plaintiffs commenced proceedings to set aside their guarantees - proceedings ultimately settled in 1995 - the parties jointly took out a loan from a credit union to pay the settlement sum - the parties repaid the loan in agreed proportions for 16 years - in 2011 the defendant stopped making repayments and the plaintiffs repaid the balance to avoid default to the credit union - whether the plaintiffs entitled to equitable contribution in relation to the repayments to the credit union - whether the plaintiffs lost any part of their right to contribution because of their conduct of the settled proceedings or because of the circumstances in which the defendant executed the 1995 loan.

PROCEDURE - self-represented litigant - Defence filed in the proceedings included various factual statements - order made treating the Defence as the defendant's evidence in chief. Legislation Cited: Contracts Review Act 1980 (NSW) Real Property Act 1900 (NSW) s 57(2)(b) Cases Cited: Burke & Anor v LFOT Pty Ltd & Ors (2002) 209 CLR 282 Coulls v Bagot's Executor & Trustee Co Ltd (1967) 119 CLR 460 Crawley v Short [2009] NSWCA 410 Hampton v Minns [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 481 James Hardie & Co Pty Ltd v Wyong Shire Council (2000) 48 NSWLR 679 Muschinski v Dodds (1985) 160 CLR 583 Smith v Compton (1832) 110 ER 146 Official Trustee in Bankruptcy v Citibank Savings Ltd (1995) 38 NSWLR 116 Ogilvie v Ferry [2010] NSWSC 379 Robinson v Campbell (No 2) (1992) 30 NSWLR 503 Steel v Dixon (1881) 17 Ch D 825 Category: Principal judgment Parties: First Plaintiff: William Connor Miller Second Plaintiff: Elizabeth Ann Miller Defendant: Peter Francis Harris Representation: Plaintiff: B. Palmer Defendant:- in person File Number(s): 2012/208334 Publication restriction: No