Mangano v Bullen [2019] NSWSC 1704

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Mangano v Bullen [2019] NSWSC 1704 Hearing dates: 29 & 30 October 2019 Date of orders: 03 December 2019 Decision date: 03 December 2019 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Slattery J Decision: Summons dismissed. Plaintiff ordered to pay the defendant's costs of the proceedings, subject to any application for a special costs order. Any motion for a special costs order must be filed by 17 December 2019 and may be made returnable on 4 February 2020. Catchwords: REAL PROPERTY – indefeasibility – fraud exception to indefeasibility – Real Property Act 1900, s 42 – defendant and her late de facto partner ('the deceased") witness the affixation of a company seal of the corporate vendor to a memorandum of transfer of real property under the Real Property Act – memorandum of transfer registered – the defendant and the deceased thereby become tenants-in-common – but at the time of execution of the transfer, the company had already been deregistered – the defendant and the deceased occupy the property until his death in 2015 – shortly before his death, her tenancy-in-common with the deceased is converted to a joint tenancy – the defendant becomes the registered proprietor of the property by survivorship after his death – the plaintiff, the daughter of the deceased and executrix of his estate, seeks a declaration that the transfer and the later creation of the joint tenancy were void as a fraud upon the National Companies and Securities Commission, in whom the property was vested at the time of the 1986 transfer – whether the defendant was knowingly involved in any fraud associated with the transfer – whether the transfer and the later creation of the joint tenancy are defeasible at the suit of the plaintiff. Legislation Cited: Limitation Act 1969, s 27 Real Property Act 1900, s 42 Succession Act 2016, Chapter 3 Cases Cited: Assets Co Ltd v Mere Roihi [1905] AC 176 Bank of South Australia Ltd v Ferguson (1998) 192 CLR 248 Breskvar v Wall (1971) 126 CLR 376 Grgic v Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (1994) 33 NSWLR 202 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Plaintiff: Silvana Mangano First Defendant: Rosemary Ann Bullen Second Defendant: Australian Securities and Investment Commission Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff: Mr J.S. Emmett First Defendant: Dr C. Birch SC Second Defendant: submitting appearance