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Dear Colleagues;

I note that the High Court has granted special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of SA in W Cook Builders Pty Ltd (In Liq) v Matthew Lumbers & Ors [2007] SASC 20. This is a building case decided by the Full Court on restitutionary grounds; the appeal has been accepted by the High Court explicitly on the basis that it seems to offer a (further?) chance to clarify the operation of the law in the area.

Kirby J's comments on this are interesting:

KIRBY J: Yes, but we have here a claim on this so-called basis of restitution - a claim in restitution as described. We have assertions by you that this is an obvious case for it and by Mr Jackson’s obvious case not for it. We have a dissenting opinion in the Full Court. Whole conferences are devoted to this area of the law and in some countries it is a growth industry and in this country it might be interred stillborn, but can it be denied that it is an important question? The issue then becomes, is this an appropriate vehicle, but it does seem to be an appropriate vehicle to present interesting and important questions of legal principle.