Restitution
front page

What's new?

Archive front page

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2007

2006

2008

2009

Presumably theft could only have been an issue if Mr Anz was well aware that it was a mistaken payment. Given his knowledge, he couldn't have pleaded change of position.

As the law stands, at least here, I would have thought that Mr Anz obtained a voidable title to the chips. This might make the charge of theft seem a little odd. Yet, while to hold that there can be theft in knowingly accepting a mistaken payment seems harsh, it might be thought consistent enough with the controversial English cases such as Gomez.

From: S.G.A. Pitel
To: restitution@maillist.ox.ac.uk
Subject: RDG: Change of Position?
Date: 12 January 1998 08:31

From the Canadian Press over the holidays:

"GAMBLER LOSES IN COURT

Samir Anz must have thought he'd hit the jackpot. Mr. Anz, 47, won $800 at a Casino Niagara roulette table last February, but the dealer mistakenly dished out a stack of chips worth $3,200. By the time the dealer realized the mistake and alerted supervisors, Mr. Anz was in another part of the Niagara Falls casino. He wasn't found for three hours - by which time he'd lost the extra $2,400 at blackjack. Even though the extra chips weren't cashed in and were back in the casino's possession, management asked Mr. Anz to pay back the $2,400. When he failed to do so the next day, he was charged with theft. Mr. Anz pleaded guilty to theft and on Monday was fined $700 and ordered to repay the $2,400."

Stephen Pitel
Graduate Student
University of Cambridge