Stilbo Pty Ltd & Ors v MCC Pty Ltd (in liquidation

[2003] TASSC 6

Supreme Court of Tasmania

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Equity
2. › Trusts and trustees
3. › Powers, duties, rights and liabilities of trustees
4. › Indemnity, lien and reimbursement
5. › Trustee's equitable proprietary interest in trust assets
6. › Whether proprietary right survives barring of personal claim for indemnity by limitation
1. Limitation of Actions
2. › Application of statutes of limitation
3. › Equitable proprietary interests
4. › Whether creditor secured by equitable proprietary interest barred by barring of personal action in respect of debt
5. › Limitation Act 1974 (Tas), ss 4, 9, 24
1. Limitation of Actions
2. › Trusts and deceased estates
3. › Statutory provisions in Trustee Acts
4. › Whether constructive trustee and trustee de son tort protected from liability by Limitation Act
5. › Meaning of 'trustee' in s 24
6. › Limitation Act 1974 (Tas), s 24
1. Limitation of Actions
2. › Trusts and deceased estates
3. › Meaning of 'trust property'
4. › Whether trust property includes income from trust property
5. › Limitation Act 1974 (Tas), s 24

Quick Take

A trustee's equitable proprietary interest (lien) in trust assets is not extinguished by the barring of the personal claim for indemnity by limitation. Section 24 of the Limitation Act 1974 (Tas) does not protect constructive trustees or trustees de son tort, and 'trust property' under that section includes income derived from trust property. Claims for account and breach of fiduciary duty by a former trustee against persons who received trust money are barred by analogy to limitation periods, but claims based on the equitable proprietary interest (tracing, constructive trust, trustee de son tort) survive.