Two families from a highly affluent neighbourhood are embroiled in a series of contentious legal disputes over a brick barrier, sand left over from building a home, and supposedly dropping leaves into a pool.
In the beautiful and typically tranquil Perth suburb of Dalkeith, Anthony and Maria Priolo filed a “raft of objections” with the Western Australian Supreme Court against the construction of their neighbours’ home on Viking Road.
The Priolos claimed that Yen Thi Tran and Khanh Nguyen’s 2015 home building project constituted “nuisance, carelessness, and trespass.”
The issues started quickly after the two groups of neighbours acquired residences next to one another in 2013.
A four-bedroom, four-bathroom home on Viking Road was purchased by the Priolos for $4.5 million in the same year that Ms. Tran and Mr. Nguyen purchased the next plot for $2.15 million.
Registered builder Mr. Nguyen hired his businesses Civcon and Nonnii Constructions to construct his own house on the property.
The Priolo sought monetary compensation and court judgments against both businesses.
Seven years later, Master Craig Sanderson of the WA Supreme Court issued a warning that their continuing legal conflict “promises to be protracted, nasty, and expensive.”
In a review of the case’s circumstances, he noted that regrettably, not all neighbours get along.
The Priolos claim that leaves have fallen into their swimming pool, and he pointed out that the same neighbours are embroiled in another legal dispute before the Perth Magistrates Court.
According to Master Sanderson, disagreements between neighbours can “spill over into the courts” due to their “mutual hate.”
The western suburbs of [Perth] appear to be where it occurs most often.
Maybe that’s because the people in question have plenty of resources.
The Priolos requested an order directing Ms Tran and Mr. Nguyen to construct a new retaining wall between the two homes or an injunction requiring them to remove any sand and construction materials still on their property.
After the construction, a 90 millimetre wide brick wall divided the houses.
In his statement of claim, Priolos requested specific damages.
The court order in question was issued on May 28, 2021, but only three of the four defendants received notice of it before it expired on May 27, 2022.
The Priolos ran out of time to serve Ms Tran with the writ because she was in Victoria on business, and she had not given anybody permission to receive it on her behalf.
The Supreme Court prolonged the writ, but it was contested.
The plea to extend the writ was turned down by Master Sanderson.
Actually, he argued, the plaintiffs in this case “shall die by the sword, having decided to live by the sword.”
The ex parte orders will be overturned because “the interests of justice simply do not allow the extension being granted.”
Mr. Nguyen and Ms. Tran hadn’t submitted a defence in the judicial proceedings as of the time of publishing.