Alexander Chandler represented the Applicant in this interesting and important case.
Mostyn J handed down judgment on 1 November 2021 on an application to set aside an earlier final order based on the supervening impact of COVID. Held:
(1) COVID is probably not a Barder event, and on the facts of this case the husband did not set out good grounds to reopen;
(2) The court should look to effect and not semantics in the drafting of lump sum orders: in this case the order for a series of lump sums was variable despite the court having indicated to the contrary;
(3) the recent line of Thwaite cases relating to executory orders was reviewed, with doubt cast on the correctness of several decisions;
(4) principles of anonymisation considered. While on the facts of this case, the judgment would be anonymised, in future, Mostyn’s presumptive approach will be to state the parties names in financial remedy cases and only anonymise the children’s identities”