LUKIN v LOVRINOV and ANOR No. SCGRG-95-541 Judgment No. S6614

The plaintiff sought a declaration that a partnership entered into with the defendants in 1977 was still subsisting. The plaintiff also sought a declaration that certain fishing rights attaching to a tuna quota granted by the Commonwealth Government in 1984 were an asset of the partnership at the time of the acquisition of the quota. The defendants denied that the plaintiff was entitled to the relief which he seeks and counterclaimed for a declaration that the partnership had long since been terminated and that the tuna quota was never an asset of the partnership. The court considered the evidence of the parties and their witnesses, and concluded that the partnership had been effectively abandoned by the plaintiff and was determined as of 31 December 1993. The court also found that there was no evidence of an agreement or understanding between the parties that the quota was to be treated as an asset of the partnership. The court dismissed the plaintiff's claims and ordered that the partnership was determined as at 31 December 1993 and that the tuna quota was not an asset of the partnership at the time of its acquisition.