Australia, July 23 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on June 23:

1. By statement of claim filed on 17 July 2024, the plaintiff brings proceedings for recovery of a loan in the sum of $300,000 which she made to the defendant on or about 2 December 2018, together with interest at the rate of 20%, this being the rate of interest stipulated in the contract drafted by the defendant's accountant, Mr Cyril Quek.

2. The defendant denies that any money is due or owing or alternatively says that she should only be ordered to pay $176,091.80.

3. The claim is notable for the lack of documentation provided by the defendant for the variations she asserted were made to this contract. The plaintiff says she signed a loan agreement which was identical to a draft document emailed to her earlier on the day it was signed (2 December 2018). It was never put to her that any other contractual document was shown to her, let alone signed. The defendant denies the contract was ever signed or even agreed to but cannot produce documentation in support of her claim of a gift or a variation or a new contract. She says that most of her documentary evidence (including banking records) was destroyed in a house fire on 21 October 2021. The defendant's two accountants claim never to have seen the document identified by the plaintiff as the loan agreement and claim that an oral account of its contents was given to them by Mr Cyril Quek, the accountant who prepared the agreement. The solicitor, Ms McAllister, was not called.

The parties enter into a contract

4. The defendant, who is the office manager for a member of Parliament and an elected Councillor, conducted a business known as "Happi Chicken" from the premises in which she resided.

5. During 2018, the plaintiff had some challenges in her life. First, she was undergoing a difficult divorce and subsequent property settlement. She had to move out of her home, which was sold; the sum of $300,000 which she advanced to the defendant represented the whole of her property settlement proceeds. As well as the financial and emotional concerns arising out of the termination of her marriage, the plaintiff was concerned for the welfare of her brother, Paul Sylvester, who was residing with the defendant up until his death, following a long illness, on 16 May 2018.

6. After the death of her brother, in June 2018, the plaintiff stayed with the defendant in her home for two consecutive weekends. The defendant had negotiated a partnership with a Ms Reanna Payne-Ball in June 2018 which required Ms Payne-Ball to assist in the course of providing cafe and restaurant services under the name "Happi Kitchen". This agreement, although unrelated to the December transaction involving the plaintiff, was also drafted by Mr Cyril Quek, who was not only an accountant but also the chief financial officer of the corporate entities running the business, Happi Chicken Pty Ltd.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/197998f60a37822f856d1602)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.