Redland City Council v. Kozik & Ors
Case No.
Case no B17/2023
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
26/08/2022 Supreme Court of Queensland (Court of Appeal) (McMurdo JA, Boddice and Callaghan JJ)
Catchwords
Restitution – Unjust enrichment – Payment of public impost – Mistake of law – Restitutionary defence in public law – Where respondents plaintiffs in representative action against appellant seeking recovery of monies paid as ratepayers for charges wrongly levied by appellant – Where appellant accepts charges wrongly levied, but refuses to repay amount of charges expended for particular benefit of group of ratepayers – Where primary judge held appellant unable to raise restitutionary defences in circumstances where plaintiffs' claims brought as cause of action in debt and no contractual relationship arose – Where Court of Appeal majority found restitution claims available in circumstances where monies paid under invalid laws, but that ratepayers could not be considered to be unjustly enriched by repayment of monies – Whether defence of unjust enrichment available where payment of public impost made under mistake of law – Whether defence of unjust enrichment available where, though wrongly levied, charges expended to special benefit of group – Whether defence of unjust enrichment to be framed by reference to contractual principles of failure of consideration or by reference to material benefit derived.
Documents*
17/03/2023 Hearing (SLA, Canberra by video connection)
27/03/2023 Notice of appeal
05/05/2023 Written submissions (Appellant)
05/05/2023 Chronology (Appellant)
02/06/2023 Written submissions (Respondents)
23/06/2023 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, intervening)
23/06/2023 Written submissions (Attorney-General of the State of Queensland, intervening)
30/06/2023 Reply
13/09/2023 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)
12/09/2023 Outline of oral argument (Appellant)
13/09/2023 Outline of oral argument (Respondents)
13/09/2023 Outline of oral argument (Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, intervening)
13/09/2023 Outline of oral argument (Attorney-General of the State of Queensland, intervening)
14/09/2023 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra) (Audio-visual recording)
13/03/2024 Judgment (Judgment summary)