99.
Fourth, when the First Defendant was responding to the BDZ correspondence in
December, he was at pains to point out that the transaction concerned the charity and
not the First Defendant personally. He did not also point out that they did not concern
the Claimant personally but one of his companies. The corporate issue seems only to
have arisen in June 2006, when the Defendants instructed professional advisers who
had not seen and did not accept the validity of the written agreement examined under
the first issue.
Outcome:
100.
On the findings of fact set out above, I conclude that the Claimant is entitled to
succeed for the recovery of the monies transferred plus interest from the date or dates
that the loans should have been repaid. I have seen no evidence that interest was
agreed to be paid in December.
101.
The First Defendant submits that the written agreement was too obscure to have
validity as a valid contract, and if the sums transferred were a failed gift, the claim has
not been pleaded as a resulting trust and it would be unjust to the charity to have to
repay them. It seems that the charity has wound down its fund raising initiatives since
June 2006, and has a number of creditors.
102.
For the reasons given in reaching the conclusions on the first issue, in my judgment in
the case of both transactions neither was intended to be a gift and the legal principles
to be considered are not those relating to intended gifts that fail for one reason or
another. The First Defendant was either aware or should have been aware that under
the arrangements stipulated by the Claimant these sums were repayable.
103.
I am conscious that the Second and Third Defendants have personal responsibility for
the repayment of these sums by reason of their position as trustees, although they
were not party to the terms in which the funds were received or any breach of
personal obligation to the Claimant. However, they relied on the First Defendant’s
efforts as fund raiser and director for the Trust when it was active and they must take
the failures along with the successes, the rough with the smooth. I imagine that there
is an apposite Yiddish phrase.
104.
The fact that the charity instantaneously transferred the funds to Israel does not make
it unjust that they should have to repay them. There is no reason now that its legal
obligations have been made clear that it cannot revive its fund raising activities to
meet them.
105.
I accordingly find for the Claimant on both issues.
Postscript
106.
I would hope that the bitter controversy this claim has created within the synagogues
of Stamford Hill will now abate. The court has not been diverted into engaging with
mutual recriminations of unethical behaviour, and has no authority in theological
matters. It is, perhaps, possible to draw back from the turmoil of litigation and
conclude that both sides may well have thought at the time that they were behaving in
the best interest of the charity: the First Defendant in seeking and the Claimant in
giving short-term support.