Recovering Money Paid By Mistake

It's bad enough paying money to someone by accident. What do you do if the recipient has transferred the money to someone else? A recent case shows that, once you discover the mistake, you shouldn't waste any time letting the other side know about it.

Background

Singleton Earthmoving Pty Ltd was in liquidation.

Wambo had once owed money to Singleton, but had paid it off. Wambo did however, owe money to Quensor. Quensor was no relation to Singleton, but did use a similar trading name.

Apparently confused by the similar names, Wambo paid Singleton the money due to Quensor.

Singleton's records were out of date, so its liquidator believed that Wambo's payment was the payment of a current debt.