Florence Chen appeared for the Applicant (led by Elizabeth Bishop SC), instructed by K&L Gates.
Rob Anderson KC and Tim Ellis appeared for the First Respondent, instructed by Cooper Grace Ward.
The proceeding concerned competing interlocutory applications seeking to vary the provision for reasonable legal expenses identified under previously made freezing orders. The Applicant sought to limit the reasonable legal expenses to only those incurred in the current proceeding and the taxation objections that the Respondents had served on the Applicant. The First Respondent sought to increase the amount permitted to be spent on reasonable legal expenses by way of an additional lump sum payment, with the reasonable legal expenses then to continue at the same amount of $10,000 per month.
Wheatley J was satisfied, on the Applicant’s application, that the terms of the Freezing Orders should be varied to limit the reasonable legal expenses to only the legal expenses incurred in the current proceeding and the taxation objections.
On the First Respondent’s application, Wheatley J ordered that an additional lump sum amount of $165,000 be payable forthwith, and that from 1 September 2025, up to a total of $15,000 per calendar month for the First Respondent’s reasonable legal expenses be permitted.
The judgment can be read by clicking here
