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Change of Position Balances the Hardship between the Claimant and the Defendant

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Upon fulfillment of the four criteria, namely that the defendant has been unjustly enriched at the claimant’s expense and there are no defences available for the defendant, a claimant will qualify for restitution of unjust enrichment as established in Banque Financiere de la Cite v Parc (Battersea) Ltd. Change of position is one of the numerous defences which may be used when it would be excessive to allow a restitution claim at the defendant’s expense. This essay will evaluate the defence of change of position and reinforce the stance that it is adequately effective in protecting a defendant from hardship.
The purpose of change of position is to balance out the hardships between claimant and defendant. In the landmark case of Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale, it states that if a claimant pays money to the defendant, who then uses the money or changes his position in good faith, it will be unjust to require the defendant to make restitution. This further solidified the status of change of position as an accepted choice of defence against a restitution claim.
There are principles guiding change of position, rather than it being up to the courts’ discretion. However, in Lipkin Gorman, Lord Goff stated that the development of change of position should be dealt with on a case to case basis , leading to much uncertainty regarding the defence of change of position. Each case has distinctive facts and it is due to this uncertainty which provides flexibility for the courts to provide

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