Gray v. Lavan (A Firm)
Case No.
P7/2025
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
28/11/2024 Supreme Court of Western Australia (Court of Appeal) (Buss P; Mitchell and Vandongen JJA)
Catchwords
Restitution – Unjust enrichment – Where client engaged a firm of solicitors to conduct litigation on his behalf – Where the firm issued, and the client paid, invoices for legal work performed by the firm over many years – Where invoices were subject to the client’s right to obtain a taxation and the return of excessive charges – Where 10 years after the final payment the parties resolved their dispute as to the amount overpaid, but excluding the client’s claim to interest, on the basis that the firm would repay $900,000, this amount reflecting what would have been found to be excessive as not fair and reasonable and ordered to be refunded to the client by the firm if the taxation had proceeded – Whether the firm was unjustly enriched, because there had been a failure of basis, or a total failure of consideration, in respect of those overpaid sums, that warranted their repayment – Whether the measure of the firm’s enrichment was not merely the value of the principal sum, but also the use value of that sum for ten years prior to repayment – Whether to reverse its unjust enrichment, the firm was obliged to pay interest to the client (whether simple or compound), and not merely the principal sum.
Documents*
03/04/2025 Determination
17/04/2025 Notice of appeal
22/05/2025 Written submissions (Appellant)
22/05/2025 Chronology (Appellant)
19/06/2025 Written submissions (Respondent)
10/07/2025 Reply
*The due dates shown for documents on this page are indicative only.