Menelaou v Bank of Cyprus UK Ltd: CA 19 Jun 2013

The Court was asked questions about the law of unjust enrichment, and one of the remedies which may be granted to reverse the effect of unjust enrichment, namely subrogation to an unpaid vendor’s lien. The bank had released its charges over property in exchange for the grant of a new charge over other property purchased with the proceeds of sale of the released property was entitled by subrogation to an unpaid vendor’s lien on the new property. The bank appealed against rejection of its claimin unjust enrichment.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Subrogation is not istelf a cause of action, but was rather a remedy granted by equity.
Moses LJ said that economic reality is a ‘somewhat fuzzy concept’

Judges:

Moses, Tomlinson, Floyd LJJ

Citations:

[2014] 1 WLR 854, [2013] WLR(D) 266, [2013] 2 P andCR 21, [2013] EWCA Civ 1960, [2013] EWCA Civ 828

Links:

WLRD, Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal fromMenelaou v Bank of Cyprus Plc ChD 19-Jul-2012
On the sale of the claimant’s property, the solicitors received agreement by the defendant bank to the release of their charge over the property for a certainsum, being less than the loan outstanding. In the course of discharging the loan, a bank . .

Cited by:

Appeal fromBank of Cyprus UK Ltd v Menelaou SC 4-Nov-2015
The bank customers, now appellants, redeemed a mortgage over their property, and the property was transferred to family members, who in turn borrowed from the same lender. A bank employee simply changed the name on the mortgage. This was ineffective . .
CitedRevenue and Customs v The Investment Trust Companies SC 11-Apr-2017
Certain investment trust companies (ITCs) sought refunds of VAT paid on the supply of investment management services. EU law however clarified that they were not due. Refunds were restricted by the Commissioners both as to the amounts and limitation . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Equity

Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.510920