Lambrou v Lambrou (No 2)

[2018] VSC 244

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA Not Restricted

AT MELBOURNE

COMMON LAW DIVISION

TRUSTS, EQUITY & PROBATE LIST

S CI 2017 00661

CHRISTOS LAMBROU (who sues as representative of the Estate of Despina Lambrou, deceased)	Plaintiff
v
EMMANUEL GEORGE LAMBROU	First Defendant
MELISSA JOANNE LAMBROU	Second Defendant

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JUDGE:	Lansdowne AsJ
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATES OF HEARING:	19 April 2018
DATE OF JUDGMENT:	16 May 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	Lambrou v Lambrou (No 2)
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VSC 244

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PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Summary judgment sought by plaintiff on part of her claim, being for breach of fiduciary duty - Defence found to have no real prospect of success – Strike out of counterclaim - Whether discretion against grant of summary judgment should be exercised pursuant to Civil Procedure Act 2010 (Vic) s 64 – Whether compound interest should be awarded in the Court’s equitable jurisdiction or interest under Supreme Court Act 1986 (Vic) s 60 – Whether judgment should be stayed.

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APPEARANCES	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Plaintiff	Mr J Smith	Macpherson & Kelley
For the First and Second Defendants	Dr J Glover	Melbourne Legal Group Pty Ltd

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 1

Matters raised in the Principal Reasons......................................................................................... 2

Discretion....................................................................................................................................... 2

Form of relief................................................................................................................................. 4

Parties’ submissions........................................................................................................................... 4

Plaintiff........................................................................................................................................... 4

Defendants..................................................................................................................................... 7

Discussion............................................................................................................................................ 8

Counterclaim................................................................................................................................. 8

Discretion..................................................................................................................................... 10

Intermingling of issues..................................................................................................... 10

Counterclaim and amendment to pleadings................................................................. 11

Other matters relied upon by the defendants............................................................... 11

Form of relief............................................................................................................................... 12

Interest................................................................................................................................. 13

Costs……........................................................................................................................... 18

Stay………................................................................................................................................... 18

Conclusion......................................................................................................................................... 19

HER HONOUR:

Introduction

1. These reasons concern a summary judgment application brought by the late Despina Lambrou (Mrs Lambrou) before her death through her then administrator against her oldest son, Emmanuel Lambrou and his wife, Melissa Lambrou.  The claim as a whole seeks relief relating to a number of financial transactions undertaken by the first defendant in respect of the property of the plaintiff, but in the summary judgment application she sought judgment on a summary basis in respect of part only of her claim.  The plaintiff sought summary judgment against the first defendant for breach of fiduciary duty in the sum of $552,000 on the basis that he conceded that he had used that amount of the sale proceeds of his mother’s home for his own purposes at a time when he was her administrator. 

1. After the hearing of the summary judgment application and before its determination, Mrs Lambrou sadly died.  She has now been replaced as plaintiff by her younger son, Christos, as the administrator of her intestate estate.

1. I gave reasons for the substantive determination of the summary judgment application which were published on 29 March 2018 (Principal Reasons).[1]  In the Principal Reasons I held that the defendants have no real prospect of success in establishing a defence to the claim the subject of the summary judgment application, but I noted that counsel had not put to me explicit submissions in relation to the exercise of the discretion and I…