Court orders Lm3,000 refund in failed adoption case

Magistrate Dennis Montebello has ordered a woman to refund money to a couple after she failed to procure a girl from Pakistan for them to adopt.

The judgment was delivered in the case filed by Lawrence and Maria Concetta Grima against Concetta Charles and her husband Dennis.

Mr and Mrs Grima submitted that in July 2002 they had signed a contract with Mrs Charles and paid her Lm3,000 to provide them with a girl to adopt from Pakistan.

The girl had not come to Malta and the Grimas asked the court to order Mrs Charles to refund the money paid to her.

Mrs Charles did not file any pleas but the curator appointed to represent Mr Charles, who is overseas, pleaded that the Grimas' action was null and void as they were requesting a refund of money paid in an illegal transaction which was contrary to public order. Mr Charles further pleaded that he ought not to have been sued as the contractual relationship that existed was between his wife and the couple.

The court noted that the contract entered into between the parties stipulated that the sum of Lm3,000 was being paid to Mrs Charles on account of a larger sum that would make good for the expenses to be incurred in adopting a child from abroad in conformity with the law of Pakistan and the adoption procedures in Malta.

None of the contract terms indicated some illegal or illicit cause of action and Mr Charles's plea of nullity was therefore dismissed.

The court, however, found that Mr Charles ought not to have been sued as the contract had been entered into by Mrs Charles and the Grimas and the contractual obligations did not involve the community of acquests existing between the Charles couple.

The court ordered Mrs Charles to refund the sum of Lm3,000 to the Grimas.