Naaman v Jaken Properties Australia Pty Limited

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIAGAGELER CJ,GORDON, EDELMAN, STEWARD, GLEESON, JAGOT AND BEECH‑JONES JJANTHONY NAAMAN  APPELLANTANDJAKEN PROPERTIES AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED & ORS  RESPONDENTSNaaman v Jaken Properties Australia Pty Limited[2025] HCA 1Date of Hearing: 11 October 2024Date of Judgment: 5 February 2025S26/2024ORDERAppeal dismissed with costs.On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South WalesRepresentationB W Walker SC with P Afshar Mazandaran and N A Wootton for the appellant (instructed by KB Legals)J C Kelly SC with S V Shepherd and A E Maroya for the respondents (instructed by Jeresyn Legal)Notice:  This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.CATCHWORDSNaaman v Jaken Properties Australia Pty Limited Equity – Fiduciary obligation – Successor trustee and former trustee – Where former trustee has entitlement in equity to be indemnified out of trust assets for expenses and liabilities properly incurred – Where trustee has beneficial interest in trust assets commensurate with that entitlement to indemnification – Where appellant is judgment creditor of former trustee and subrogated to former trustee's entitlement to indemnification – Where successor trustee transferred trust assets to third parties leaving insufficient trust assets to satisfy former trustee's entitlement to indemnification – Whether successor trustee owes fiduciary obligation to former trustee – Whether fiduciary obligation owed in respect of entitlement of former trustee to indemnification out of trust assets or commensurate beneficial interest in trust assets retained by former trustee following replacement by successor trustee.Words and phrases – "beneficial interest", "cestui que trust",...