In Barclays Bank Limited v Simms [1980] QB 679, 695, Goff J held that a claim for restitution on the grounds of mistake would fail, inter alia, if

the payment is made for good consideration, in particular if the money is paid to discharge and does discharge a debt owed to the payee (or a principal on whose behalf he is authorised to receive the payment) by the payer or by a third party by whom he is authorised to discharge the debt … [emphasis added]

We have already seen an interesting US case of the particular example of the three party case [update: the appeal is noted here]. Now comes news of an interesting US case of the italicised general example of payment made for good consideration.

In Pincus v American Traffic Solutions, Inc, Pincus was photographed going through a red light (similar to the one in the photo, right), and he paid a penalty to American Traffic Solutions, Inc (ATS), made up of the statutory penalty and an additional fee for the convenience of paying online rather than by mail. He brought a putative class action (pdf) against ATS in Federal Court, alleging that several Florida statutes barred ATS from charging the convenience fee and that ATS was unjustly enriched by retaining it.…

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In two previous posts (here and here), I have looked at issues arising out of McDonald J’s judgments in HKR Middle East Architects Engineering LC v English (No 1) [2019] IEHC 306 (10 May 2019); (No 2) [2021] IEHC 142 (3 March 2021); (No 3) [2021] IEHC 376 (31 May 2021). In HKR v English (No 1) McDonald J held that English had been unjustly enriched at the expense of HKRME. However, he valued that enrichment, not as the full US$8,094,873 ultimately paid to English, but as limited to the (probably substantially smaller) amount of HKRME’s unpaid and lawful liabilities. And he directed that an account should be taken of those liabilities. In both HKR v English (No 2) and HKR v English (No 2), McDonald J affirmed this conclusion.

In my first post, I pointed out that a cause of action for restitution of unjust enrichment is complete when the payment is made by the plaintiff and received by the defendant, so that the defendant’s enrichment is the amount paid by the plaintiff. This is because, where the enrichment is the payment of money, complex questions seldom arise (Dublin Corporation v Building and Allied Trade Union (the Bricklayers’ Hall case) [1996] 2 IR 468, 483; [1996] 2 ILRM 547, 558, (24 July 1996) [37]-[40] (doc | pdf | html) (Keane J; Hamilton CJ, O’Flaherty, Blayney and Barrington JJ concurring); Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Revenue and Customs (No 3) [2021] UKSC 31 (23 July 2021) [FII (No 3)] [170] (Lords Reed and Hodge (in a joint judgment; Lords Briggs, Sales and Hamblen concurring)).…

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The Abu Dhabi Plaza (pictured left), in Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana), the capital city of Kazakhstan, is the highest building in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It was designed by HKR Middle East (HKRME) Architects in the United Arab Emirates, whose principal was Dublin architect Jeremiah Ryan. To keep his UAE receipts beyond the reach of his Dublin creditors, between April 2012 and March 2013, Ryan directed HKRME to pay US$8,094,873 to Sunvit, an entity in the British Virgin Islands controlled by the defendant, Barry English, a Director of one of Ireland’s leading engineering companies. While the monies were notionally received by Sunvit, McDonald J held that English was in fact the real beneficiary, and that Sunvit was no more than a vehicle to receive funds on his behalf. HKRME sued English for the return of the monies. In a series of judgments, in HKR Middle East Architects Engineering LC v English (No 1) [2019] IEHC 306 (10 May 2019); (No 2) [2021] IEHC 142 (3 March 2021); (No 3) [2021] IEHC 376 (31 May 2021), HKRME’s claims in trust, contract, and breach of UEA law, failed. However, McDonald J held that the consideration for the payments to Sunvit had failed, such that the defendant had been unjustly enriched at the plaintiff’s expense.…

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This is the seventh and final post (see also parts I, II, III, IV, V and VI) discussing the opinion of Lord Burrows (pictured left, via here) giving the advice of the Privy Council in Samsoondar v Capital Insurance Company Ltd (Trinidad and Tobago) [2020] UKPC 33 (14 December 2020) (Samsoondar) and the decision of Thornton J (pictured far left, via here) in the Queen’s Bench Division in Surrey County Council v NHS Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group [2020] EWHC 3550 (QB) (21 December 2020) (Surrey).

In my first post, I introduced the cases and issues. In my second post, I examined whether the defendants were enriched at the expense of the plaintiffs. In my third post, I considered whether compulsory discharge of the debt of another could have provided a cause of action in Samsoondar and Surrey, and whether Surrey could rely upon a policy-motivated cause of action, consisting in the unlawful obtaining or conferral of a benefit by a public authority. In my fourth post, I considered whether the mistaken discharge of the debt of another might have been available on the facts of both cases.…

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