Dear Members,



The English Court of Appeal has considered the law on incidental benefits today in TFL Management Services Ltd v Lloyds Bank Plc [2013] EWCA Civ 1415 http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/1415.html, in which RDGer Gerard McMeel appeared. The problem was whether summary judgment should be granted in favour of the defendant bank in circumstances as framed by Floyd LJ (at [1]):



"A spends money seeking a judgment for the recovery of a debt from B. A fails to recover the debt because, so the court holds, the debt is not in fact owed by B to A (as A mistakenly thought), but owed by B to C. C then recovers the debt, relying on the judgment in A's unsuccessful claim. The question raised in this appeal is whether A has a claim based on unjust enrichment against C, enabling him to recover the money expended on obtaining the judgment."



The Court considers academic commentary but declines to formulate general principles. It is also divided. Beatson LJ's concurring judgment is particularly worthwhile (see eg at [86]):



"Given the position in the scholarly commentaries, and the absence of decisions which explicitly proceed on the basis of a principle barring "incidental benefits", or any clear (let alone agreed) formulation of what it is which is to be prevented, I do not consider that it is appropriate to give summary judgment on the basis of a general principle barring restitution in respect of benefits conferred "incidentally". To do so would, in particular, be to discount the possible alternative explanations for the scenarios which have been said to be examples of its operation."



Best wishes,

James



--
James Lee
Senior Lecturer and Director of Admissions
Birmingham Law School, room 235
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3629
E-mail: j.s.f.lee@bham.ac.uk


Web: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/law/lee-james.aspx


SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1192219

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