(ii) Restitutionary Claims to Vindicate the Claimant’s Proprietary Rights

Where the defendant has received property in which the claimant retains a proprietary interest, the claimant will be able to bring a restitutionary claim against the defendant even though the defendant received the benefit indirectly. In fact, most claims involving the vindication of proprietary rights are brought against the indirect recipients of property. This is illustrated by the decision of the House of Lords in Lipkin Gorman (a firm) v Karpnale Ltd,²⁹ where a partner in the claimant firm of solicitors stole money from the firm, which he then used to gamble at the defendant’s casino. The restitutionary claim against the defendant succeeded, even though the defendant had not received the benefit directly from the claimant. But this is not an exception to the direct enrichment requirement simply because the restitutionary claim to vindicate property rights should not be considered to be founded on the unjust enrichment principle.^[1]

• [1] 31 See FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC [2014] UKSC 45, [2015] AC 250.