Thompson & Berg

In Thompson & Berg, the appellant, the husband, appealed against orders enforcing final property settlement orders, and subsequently appealed against orders refusing a stay of the enforcement orders. The dispute involved the enforcement of property settlement orders made following the separation of the parties. The Family Court of Australia was tasked with deciding whether the trial judge erred in making the enforcement orders and whether the orders refusing a stay of enforcement were correctly made. The court was also required to determine whether the appellant's attempts to re-litigate issues that had already been finally determined were justified.

The court found that there was no error demonstrated in the trial judge's exercise of the discretion to make the enforcement orders. The appellant had not shown that the trial judge's decision was flawed. Furthermore, the appeal against the refusal of the stay of enforcement orders was rendered nugatory by the lack of merit in the appeal against the enforcement orders. The court held that the appellant was attempting to re-litigate issues that had already been finally determined, and there were no justifying circumstances for such conduct. Therefore, the appeals were dismissed, and the husband was ordered to pay the wife's costs of and incidental to the appeals, in the sum of $1,500 or such greater sum to be assessed. These costs were to be paid from the husband's share of any sale proceeds of the property in the NSW Highlands or, if not satisfied from those proceeds, then to be paid to the wife 28 days after the settlement of the sale of the property in the NSW Highlands.