SAIT & AUTON (No.2)

In the matter of SAIT & AUTON (No.2), Judge A Kelly of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia considered an application for the enforcement of property orders. The dispute arose from the respondent's admitted non-compliance with an order for the payment of a sum of money to the applicant. The applicant sought to enforce this existing order.

The court was required to determine the available relief for the applicant in circumstances where the respondent had failed to comply with a monetary payment order. Specifically, the court considered whether it was open to treat the enforcement application as a contravention application and, consequently, the scope of relief that could be granted.

Judge Kelly reasoned that the application was properly brought as an enforcement application. The court found that the respondent had failed to comply with the property order requiring payment of $230,000. Applying the relevant rules, the court made orders declaring the sum payable and directing the respondent to pay $230,000 to the applicant by 4:00 pm on 30 November 2018. The respondent was also ordered to pay the applicant's costs of the application, fixed at $2,500 for solicitor's fees and $7,500 for counsel's fees, bringing the total amount payable under the order to $240,000. The court further directed that anonymised reasons for judgment be transmitted to the Victorian Legal Services Board.