Mantovani v Vanta Pty Ltd (No 2)

The parties involved in this case were Mantovani and Vanta Pty Ltd. The dispute concerned the existence of an express trust and a potential resulting trust in relation to certain property. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The primary issue the court needed to address was whether the trust failed due to uncertainty, and if so, whether a resulting trust arose in its place. A secondary issue was whether the original trust deed, which was allegedly lost, could be proved by secondary evidence.

The court examined the nature and contents of the original trust deed, which was purportedly lost. The parties agreed that the original deed existed but could not be produced. Mantovani sought to admit secondary evidence of the trust deed's contents, which Vanta opposed. The court needed to determine whether the secondary evidence provided sufficient proof of the lost deed's contents and whether the presumption of regularity applied. The court also considered whether the trust failed due to uncertainty, leading to the creation of a resulting trust.

The court found that the secondary evidence provided was insufficient to prove the contents of the lost trust deed. The court rejected the presumption of regularity, ruling that the original deed's contents could not be established with the available evidence. Consequently, the court held that the trust failed due to uncertainty. However, the court did not find that a resulting trust arose in place of the failed express trust. The court concluded that the trust property should be held on a resulting trust for the settlor until the true beneficial interests could be determined.

In light of the court's findings, the final orders included a declaration that the trust failed due to uncertainty, and the property was to be held on a resulting trust for the settlor. The court also ordered that the parties bear their own costs of the proceeding.