French v Bremner

French v Bremner was a case before the Supreme Court of New South Wales, where the primary dispute centred around the validity and interpretation of several contractual agreements and the existence of resulting trusts over certain properties. The plaintiff, French, alleged that the defendant, Bremner, had entered into various agreements, including an agreement to purchase a mortgage, to form a joint venture to exploit an invention, to manage and maintain certain properties, and to establish resulting trusts over properties purchased with French’s funds. Additionally, French sought the appointment of trustees for the sale of certain properties under the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic).

The court was required to determine several legal issues, including whether the agreements were properly formed, whether there was a breach of contract, and whether the evidence provided, including a draft affidavit, could be admitted under the exceptions to the hearsay rule in the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW). The court also needed to decide whether the parties to the alleged agreements were correctly joined to the proceedings and whether the presumption of a resulting trust was rebutted.

In its reasoning, the court found that several of the agreements were not properly formed due to incomplete terms and the absence of the correct parties in the proceedings. Regarding the draft affidavit, the court held that the document was not "marked" by the witness as required by the Evidence Act, as the witness had amended the draft and returned it by email without explicitly indicating it was their representation. Consequently, the court ruled that the draft affidavit could not be admitted as evidence. The court further found that the evidence of the agreements was insufficient to establish the existence of a resulting trust over the properties in question.

The court’s final orders included dismissing French’s claims regarding the purchase of the mortgage, the joint venture agreement, the management and maintenance agreement, and the resulting trusts. The court also declined to appoint trustees for the sale of the properties under the Property Law Act 1958 (Vic) due to the absence of the necessary parties.