Cirillo & Cirillo

Cirillo & Cirillo was an appeal against the decision of Aldridge J in the Family Court, concerning the division of assets between the husband and wife. The wife appealed the decision which rejected her application for freezing orders against the proceeds of sale of a commercial property, as well as orders for the husband to provide notice of certain dealings with other assets. The appeal also sought leave to adduce fresh evidence, namely, a Financial Statement sworn by the husband after the primary decision was made. The central legal issues were whether the wife's conduct had influenced the primary judge's reasoning process and whether the decision warranted reconsideration or had any utility in the appeal, considering the subsequent orders.

The court held that the wife had not demonstrated that the primary judge's decision was attended by sufficient doubt to warrant reconsideration. The judge found that the wife's conduct was not relevant to the determination of the issues, which were focused on the husband's breach of an undertaking to the Court, the balance of convenience, and the potential default events under finance agreements. Additionally, the court concluded that the subsequent orders made in the primary proceedings rendered the appeal futile. Consequently, leave to appeal was refused. The application to adduce fresh evidence was also dismissed as there was no appeal to present the evidence in.

The court did, however, allow both parties leave to file evidence and written submissions in relation to the issue of costs, which would be dealt with in chambers.