Fury trading as Fury Custom Boats v Nasso

This matter concerned an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia by Scott Fury, trading as Fury Custom Boats, against Nasso. The dispute arose from a boat-building contract where the applicant argued it had an accrued contractual right to payment for work completed to a specified stage, despite the contract's termination. The applicant contended that the Court of Appeal had erred in principle by misconstruing the contract and its implications for accrued rights, particularly in relation to the law of unjust enrichment and the doctrine of total failure of consideration.

The legal issues before the High Court included whether the Court of Appeal had correctly construed the boat-building contract, specifically whether it was a contract for the sale of a boat or a contract for construction, and the implications of this construction for accrued contractual rights. The applicant also sought to argue that even if construed as a contract of sale, the staged payments towards construction costs, with the knowledge and agreement of the parties, should give rise to an accrued right or a defence to a restitutionary claim. Further, the applicant raised questions of principle concerning the interrelationship between contract law and unjust enrichment, the effect of termination on accrued rights under staged construction contracts, and the application of established authorities such as *Mann v Paterson Constructions*, *Baltic Shipping v Dillon*, *Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd v Papadopoulos*, and *Stocznia Gdanska v Latvian Shipping*.

Keane J, delivering the decision of the High Court, stated that there was no reason to doubt the correctness of the Court of Appeal's decision. The Court found that the applicant had not demonstrated that special leave to appeal should be granted in the interests of justice. The Court's reasoning implicitly upheld the Court of Appeal's construction of the contract and its determination regarding the absence of an accrued contractual right to payment in the circumstances.

Consequently, the High Court dismissed the application for special leave to appeal with costs.