LESLIE v FARRAR CONSTRUCTION LTD

[2016] EWCA Civ 1041, Court of Appeal, Jackson and McCombe LJJ, 1 November 2016

Entitlement to recover alleged overpayment - Whether payment made by mistake - Conscious decision to pay without making investigation - No recovery allowed

The claimant entered into an oral agreement with the defendant (referred to as a 'framework agreement' although it was never reduced to writing) pursuant to which the parties agreed to identify sites for development and then to build properties on the sites. Five sites were identified and developed. The relationship between the parties subsequently broke down and the claimant sought to recover from the defendant sums which he alleged he had overpaid to the defendant. The trial of the action involved a number of issues between the parties, but only one issue was the subject of the appeal to the Court of Appeal and that concerned the claimant's entitlement to recover any overpayment which had been made.