Australia, Dec. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Dec. 13:

1. HIS HONOUR: The city of Bitola in North Macedonia [1] is known as the "City of Consuls", reputedly because it was Bitola where most of the consulates of many countries were situated.

2. The defendant, the now late Rade Stoyanovski (Rade, also referred to as "Ray"), was born in Dobrusevo, a village near Bitola, in 1934. Sadly, he lived his early and final years in an environment of conflict. Little is disclosed of his early childhood. However, his school-aged years coincided with contested control of the city in the early 1940s.

3. Rade married Danica Stoyanovski (Danica). Their eldest child, the first plaintiff, Dimce Stojanovski [2] (Dimce, also referred to as "Jim" or "Jimmy"), was born in Bitola in September 1959. Dimce is currently 65 years old.

4. The young family immigrated to Australia in 1960, no doubt looking for a fresh start in life, and settled in Mullumbimby, New South Wales. In 1961, Rade and Danica's only other child, Susanna Stoyanovski (Susanna, also referred to in the evidence as "Suzie"), was born.

5. Rade and his family prospered and came to hold valuable commercial and residential property in both Mullumbimby and Sydney. One of those properties, being the family home at Palmer Close, Illawong (Illawong Property), has become the source of a dispute between the plaintiffs, Dimce and his wife Valentina Tusevska-Stojanovski (Valentina), and Rade, over the plaintiffs' purported interest in the property.

6. In essence, the plaintiffs claim an interest in the Illawong Property on the basis of a proprietary estoppel, based upon various promises and representations said to have been made by Rade and Danica to the plaintiffs over several decades. The alleged representations evolved over time and formed part of what was said to be a larger family arrangement which essentially required Dimce to get married and have a family, after which the plaintiffs were required to work and care for Rade and Danica at home and in Rade's property investment business in Mullumbimby in return for income, security and (eventually) inheritance, as I explain further below. While Rade is recorded as the registered proprietor of the Illawong Property, it is the plaintiffs who reside in the property with their three young children, as they have done for over two decades. From November 2021, Rade had engaged in several attempts to have the plaintiffs and their family vacate the property. Ironically, and unfortunately, the art of diplomacy though sensitive and tactful dealings, a hallmark of the consuls of their city of origin, has not been a characteristic of the interactions between Dimce and Rade in recent years.

7. For clarity, as is evident from above, I have taken the liberty, without intending any disrespect, to refer to the parties and the various members of their family (many of whom bear the same or similar surnames) by their given names.

8. On the hearing, Mr McGrath of counsel appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs and Mr Bilinsky of counsel appeared with Ms Boyle of counsel on behalf of Rade (who appeared at the hearing by a tutor). Counsel for both sides provided a written outline of submissions prior to the hearing and made oral closing submissions following the completion of evidence. Counsel for Rade also provided written closing submissions on the penultimate day of the hearing. For convenience, I will refer to the submissions on behalf of Rade as submissions by Mr Bilinsky. However, it was obvious throughout the hearing that Ms Boyle gave Mr Bilinsky considerable assistance, including in relation to the taking of objections and addressing them, which assistance should be properly acknowledged.

9. I will cite the evidence in the proceedings by reference to the Court Book (CB), transcript pages and exhibit numbers, and cite the submissions by reference to Mr McGrath's opening written submissions dated 16 May 2024 (POS), Mr Bilinsky's opening written submissions dated 15 May 2024 (DOS) and closing written submissions dated 23 May 2024 (DCS), and transcript pages.

10. At the time of the hearing, Rade was 89 years old. After the conclusion of the hearing, the Court was informed by the parties' legal representatives that Rade had passed away on 16 October 2024. There was a contest over the appointment of a representative of Rade's estate for the purposes of these proceedings, which I set out further below.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/193b598cddbc46729ffc60da)

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