Australia, Sept. 1 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 31:

1. On 23 July 2025 I made orders ex parte granting interim anti-suit and anti anti-suit injunctions against the respondents to the plaintiff's amended notice of motion dated 22 July 2025 (plaintiff's motion): see Maria-Christina Perez de la Sala v Felicite Terrill Perez de la Sala [2025] NSWSC 835. For convenience, I will use the same defined terms as in that judgment. When the matter came back before the Court on 30 July 2025 in accordance with those orders, the first and third to sixth respondents gave undertakings to the Court to effectively maintain the status quo before final hearing of the plaintiff's motion, and the interim injunctions previously against those respondents (who are defendants in these proceedings) lapsed.

2. The second respondent to the plaintiff's motion, Ms Elsbeth Turner in her capacity as executrix of the estate of Ernest Ferdinand Perez de la Sala (Ms Turner), did not take that course because she has not submitted to the jurisdiction of this Court in these proceedings. Instead, she moved on prayer 2 of her notice of motion filed on 29 July 2025 (second respondent's motion) seeking an order pursuant to r 12.11(1)(b) and (i) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) (UCPR) setting aside the purported service of the plaintiff's motion on her by email to the lawyers at K&L Gates who act for her. In moving on her motion, senior counsel for Ms Turner made clear that in doing so she does not submit to the jurisdiction of this Court.

3. The background to the second respondent's motion can be briefly stated. The plaintiff's statement of claim in these proceedings filed on 16 October 2023 joined Ernest Perez de la Sala (Ernest) as the second defendant. Ernest died in Singapore on 13 December 2023. Ms Turner is the sole executrix of Ernest's estate. On 7 February 2024 Ms Turner, who is a resident of Canada, was granted probate of Ernest's will by the Family Justice Courts of Singapore. All of the assets in Ernest's estate are located in Singapore. Following Ernest's death, no steps were taken by the plaintiff to join Ms Turner to the proceedings until the filing of the plaintiff's motion. The reason for this was the granting of an interim anti-suit injunction by the High Court of Singapore to Ms Turner on 22 February 2024 restraining the plaintiff from prosecuting or maintaining the equity claim in these proceedings. That injunction was dissolved on 5 June 2025.

4. Ms Turner has previously challenged the jurisdiction of this Court over her in these proceedings by a notice of motion filed on 22 January 2025 (again made without submitting to the jurisdiction of this Court) seeking an order pursuant to UCPR r 12.11(1)(g) declaring that the Court has no jurisdiction over her with respect to the subject matter of the proceedings or, in the alternative, an order pursuant to UCPR r 12.11(1)(h) declining to exercise jurisdiction over her in the proceedings, as well as consequential relief. The earlier motion was heard on 9 May 2025 before Slattery J and judgment is reserved.

5. I note that the question of the appropriate way to serve Ms Turner and the question of the Court's jurisdiction over her were not addressed when the interim orders were made on 23 July 2025, and the plaintiff proceeded on the basis that leave to serve the plaintiff's motion on Ms Turner was not required.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19862cf0eca4bb48d1283931)

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