D’Cruz v Coutinho [2023] NSWSC 1221

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: D'Cruz v Coutinho [2023] NSWSC 1221 Hearing dates: 18 September 2023 Date of orders: 18 September 2023 Decision date: 18 September 2023 Jurisdiction: Equity - Duty List Before: McGrath J Decision: See [19] Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE — ex parte applications —freezing orders — where plaintiff alleges breaches of s 18 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Sch 2 – Australian Consumer Law arising from a set of alleged property investments made by the plaintiffs involving the defendants — where plaintiff argues that exceptional circumstances exist to warrant the making of freezing order — where delay is considered in making the application — HELD — freezing order made Legislation Cited: Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), Sch 2 – Australian Consumer Law Cases Cited: Lake v Crawford (No 2) [2010] NSWSC 419 Turner v Universal Home Loans Pty Ltd [2004] NSWSC 936 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Beryl Clotilda D'Cruz (First Plaintiff) Stanislaus Gregory D'Cruz (Second Plaintiff) Jude Savio Pio Coutinho (First Defendant) Pinnacle Property Enterprises t/as Avondale Property Group (Second Defendant) Great Southern Agricultural Holdings Pty Ltd (Third Defendant) QC Project Management Pty Ltd (Fourth Defendant) Ryan Neil Martinez (Fifth Defendant) Nigel Christian Savio Sequeira (Sixth Defendant) Representation: Counsel: H Fielder (First and Second Plaintiffs)