"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." Maya Angelou
This document is intended to try to help cope with my PTSD.
If I heard someone else explaining to me about what happened to me, I would struggle to believe it, and so I need to present the appropriate evidence along with the description.
It is also too complex to try to describe coherently verbally, and so I need to write it down. This web page is that attempt.
Hopefully writing it down will help, if not at least I will be able to explain the cause of my PTSD.
This document is a rehash of a live document I had at the time, and as such may include details that are not relevant.
Hard on the heels of the SAMPI swindle that killed dad, I was in Melbourne cleaning up after him when my uphill neighbours decided to install new retaining walls on their property.
Overview
Bunbury city council do not employ anyone with engineering qualifications, they only have office clerks that struggle to read building permits.
The building industry within the Bunbury shire is self regulating, ie; it is completely up to the people submitting the permits to follow the standards and laws.
There are no checks even when there are complaints.
My uphill neighbour decided to install two new retaining walls, and unfortunately the foundation layer was laid a minimum of 500mm too high.
The ground level between the new retaining walls was built up, resulting in an additional 700mm load being placed on the existing 1700 mm boundary retaining wall.
This resulted in destroying the super 6 boundary fence due to it only being good for 150 mm rather than 700 mm,
and damaging the boundary retaining wall due to it being overloaded by 281%.
The build up was not only my property but another property directly behind me that also had a common boundary wall / fence with the Marshes.
An additional retaining wall was built on the Marsh property, on top of the neighbours boundary retaining wall and on a sewerage easement to hold the extra fill.
The same boundary retaining wall continued on across two other properties, however the ground level on the two other properties was not raised and there is a sizeable "step" where the original ground level was and the new ground level on the Marsh property.
To me it is painfully obvious that you cannot simply add additional hight to a retaining wall without also increasing the foundation, or even within a distance at least equal to the hight of the existing retaining wall.
Apparently some people lack this common sense.
When the sewerage pipe is installed in any new development, the sewerage authority have only a rough guesstimate of what the finished ground level is going to be for the simple
reason the blocks are going to be sold as empty lots, and the eventual buyer will determine the new ground level.
If the sewerage authority guess is too low, there is a danger the manhole will be covered, If the sewerage authority guess is too high, there are no problems.
Therefore if the ground level is at or near the top of the manhole cover on sloping ground, it is more probable than not that the ground level has been raised.
Where the ground is reasonably level on all sides it is easy for them to determine the final ground level.
The top coarse of any boundary retaining wall will always be within the height of a brick from original ground level by law.
All retaining walls were approved by council before building the house was allowed to begin.
This specific retaining wall it is actually higher than the ground level further along the same retaining wall, but on a different properties.
The building permit for the boundary retaining wall contour lines are relative to a point on the driveway and therefore not a good reference.
The sewer in the sewer easement had a manhole, and the sewerage authority had contour maps available
with references to the manhole height at 36.94 meters above AHD. How to read the sewer drawing.
Sewer drawings need to be accurate because if the slope is too steep, the liquid runs away and leaves the solids behind. If it is too shallow the sewerage does not run at all and pools.
The contour drawings of the Marsh's property shows the manhole cover at 16.02 Meters,
the boundary closest to the manhole cover at 15.87 meters and falling away as the boundary gets closer to my property, and a 0.15 meter drop to boundary closest to the manhole.
Another contour drawing shows ?????
My uphill neighbour added new retaining walls to their front lawn, and 700mm of sand was stacked against the fence with no other support.
The boundary fence broke and at the same point the retaining wall beneath it cracked and bulged.
Neither the boundary fence nor the retaining wall were designed to restrain this 700mm of extra sand.
The Bobcat used to help build this new retaining wall is estimated to weigh approx 2,700 kg, and probably ventured too close to the fence.
Council regulations require all retaining walls should not have additional loading placed on them above what they were designed for, regardless of who's land the retaining wall is built on.
A structural engineer's report stated that the extra over burden could cause the retaining wall to collapse, however the Marshes have refused to remove this overburden because of fears that it would undermine their new retaining walls, which have their foundations approx 700mm higher than the top of the original boundary retaining wall, and 550mm higher than an abutting retaining wall on our common neighbor at 14 Keble Heights.
Structerre were originally asked to come up with a solution to this problem, but not only failed to do so also failed to notify anybody that it was too difficult for them.
I did not find out until much later that Structerre were the cause of this problem in the first place.
I then commissioned WML to come up with a solution to the problem. They offered two solutions, the first being to reinforce the original retaining wall and to make it tall enough so that the ground level above the retaining wall could be level. The second option was to simply reinforce the boundary retaining wall at its original height.
I offered James Marsh the option of contributing towards a higher retaining wall, but that offer was flatly rejected.
I then obtained a council building permit and started to build the reinforcing myself. I purchased most of the reinforcing bar, and was compacting the sand at the foot of the retaining wall
in preparation to dig the foundations when I was abused and hosed down by Sharyl.
I decided at that point that me putting in effort to help them to save money was not such a good idea, and sought legal advice to see what my options were.
I ended up paying over $1,500 for contradictory advice from ????? , and discovered that I could take the matter to court myself without paying for extremely expensive lawyers.
There was a pre-trail hearing on 18th of June and the 30th of July 2015 to try to resolve this problem, but so far the only money offered has been for quarter of the boundary fence, and the overburden Structerre warned could cause the original retaining wall to collapse is still in place.
The only offer the Marshes have made to pay for the damage they have caused is to pay for 1/4 of the fence they caused to be broken. The Marshes logic being that they are only paying for half of the cost to replace the section of fence that is on their property, the section that is between our common neighbor and myself is my fault because I did not act quick enough to get the first section replaced.
I did not get that first section replaced earlier as I was concerned, and I still am, that it would make repairing or reinforcing the original boundary retaining wall a lot harder and a lot more expensive, and there is a very real concern that the Marshes would promptly add more overburden, endangering the lives of anybody working to reinforce the retaining wall. Photos of the fence can be found here. Click on any of the photos to get a full sized photo in a new tab.
Retaining wall.
Main Actors
Sharyl Marsh
And to a lessor extent, James Marsh. Owners of the property where the new retaining walls were built.
Lied under oath about the property adjoining both my and the Marsh's property not having a retaining wall.
This is not subtle, the eves on the houses on the lower blocks are only slightly higher than the new ground level on the Marsh property.
This can easily be proven as the retaining wall cannot be removed without major landscaping.
One of the conditions on building a house at 12 Trinity Rise is that a retaining wall be installed
Lied under oath about digging a hole behind the retaining wall, to the depth of the retaining wall and not touching any backing blocks with a shovel.
All retaining walls are built with a lean into the retained load, so if the retaining wall does shift the top is still above or uphill of the base.
If any retaining wall should rotate to the point where the top is unsupported, the retaining wall will fail.
The movement caused by it being overloaded by 281% would have created a gap
between where the boundary retaining wall was originally built and where it is today.
While it may be possible to stick a shovel in this gap, it is extremely unlikely that this could be done without touching backing blocks,
and very unlikely that the gap was big enough at the bottom course of bricks to allow a shovel blade to enter.
There are other lies told under oath, but not so easily proven.
Ian Morrison
Bunbury Lawyer acting for the Marsh's.
Totally unprepared for original mediation meeting. I was sent out of the room for the majority of this meeting. I discovered afterwards that this was so that he could get paid for consulting time.
Promised to get a cheaper quote than the one I had if I would agree to a second meeting.
I agreed to the second meeting, but no attempt was made to get a cheaper quote.
Ian also tried to claim the second meeting as court costs, but this was blocked by the court.
Withheld all requested correspondence as to who accepted responsibility for determining foundation level of Marsh's new retaining walls.
Withheld all photos.
Withheld all contour drawings, even after the court hearing. I was able to get a copy through the court, then discovered why they were withheld.
Structerre Consulting
Bunbury franchise / branch of Structerre Consulting
Did the original design work for the Marsh's new retaining walls, and the original engineering report on the damage done to the boundary retaining wall.
Failed to disclose their conflict of interest when doing the original engineering report.
Made a false statement in that the original boundary retaining wall had no backing blocks.
Tried to imply that an avocado tree tied to the retaining wall 2.4m away was a factor in the damage caused.
Bunbury Council requested an engineering report from Structerre regarding how much overburden could be removed from original boundary retaining wall.
Structerre's 15/4/2014 report failed to answer this question.
Max Owens
I did the bulk of my own work to save money, while Max was my lawyer that provided advice and provided a contact point for the court.
Failed to show up at the hearing.
Gave extremely bad advice re the appeals process, to the point of me being concerned about the fact that he had an adjoining office to Ian Morrison, and that Ian Morrison may have answered the emails instead of Max
Bunbury Magistrates court
Ian Morrison delayed submitting paperwork to the court to the point that the court issued a default judgement in my favour.
Ian appealed against this, and during the appeal hearing argued that a precedent had been set where an additional condition needed to be met as well, in that they needed a chance of winning.
Ian then showed that he could meet this additional requirement.
The Magistrate agreed, and totally ignored the fact that the original law and requirement had not been met, with no reasons given, and allowed to case to go ahead.
I was not given a chance to speak, the court paperwork did not give any indication it was possible to appeal against this, and by the time I found out it was possible to
appeal it was too late.
Failed to provide anyone from the court to supervise the pretrial hearing.
At the Hearing itself, to start with I was asked two questions, did I have my expert witness organised, and was I ready to proceed ?
I answered the first question, but was cut off before I could ask for access to the heap of documents Ian showed me 10 minutes before the hearing, and before I could answer the second question.
The next chance I had to speak, Ian was talking about a previous version of the case, and the possibility of ignoring over 90% of the case was overwhelming to the point that
I did not address the original question.
My objections to withheld evidence were dismissed as "a gratuitous comment".
The Court only considered less than 10% of the Issues
Bunbury District court
There is a lot missing here ?????
After years of stress caused by the whole legal process my mental health was suffering a lot.
I decided to cut my losses and make an offer based on BUILDING ACT 2011 - SECT 89.
At a hearing I was not in attendance at, Ian Morrison apparently claimed that this was an extortion attempt, amongst a heap of other lies. The District court judge told me this, I started to reply that Ian's version was not true when the judge slammed the gavel down and literally yelled at me that it was true.
The hearing was abruptly ended and the case was put into limbo.
I attempted to get it out of limbo multiple times, but I was unable to do it myself and all the Bunbury Lawyers I contacted either replied that they were too busy, or did not reply at all.
I suspect this is due to slander spread by Ian Morrison.
I was unable to appeal to a higher court due to the case not having a decision.
While I was in Melbourne cleaning up after my dads death I received a phone call telling me that the boundary wall had collapsed during a storm. I chased up retaining wall people, they rang and told me that they could not extend the retaining wall. It did not make a lot of sense until I found that the retaining wall had not collapsed, just the fence.
10/10/2012
I flew back to Bunbury for a week, mostly to deal with the collapsed boundary wall, which I found out was only the boundary fence that had collapsed. However the boundary retaining wall did have a bulge and a crack in the top row of bricks. I asked for Structerre engineering to examine the wall and to let me know if they considered the wall to be safe.
I sent an email to Nick Arkell of T & V fencing explaining that I wanted to make sure the wall was OK before replacing the fence.
After chasing up Structerre to see what was happening with their report, I found out that they sent an invoice to 11B Keble heights.
I explained to them again that I was in Melbourne and they then emailed me the invoice as I originally requested.
I then paid their invoice of $555.
Received Structerre report on retaining wall.
Email exchange where Greg Hamilton from Structerre states that the extra loading on the retaining wall needs to be removed in case it causes the retaining wall to collapse. This was sent to the Marshes on 22/01/2016 as part of my general affidavit to define documents wanted from the defense.
Based on rough calculations I worked out the the sapling mentioned in the report would have contributed at most 0.45% (less than half of one percent), of the overburden the extra sand was causing, and this was not refuted by Struterre.
Note that the crack in the boundary retaining wall is 2.4 meters from the eye bolt that held the sapling.
The diagram attached to this report shows what they were looking for when probing for backing blocks.
A copy of the building permit for the retaining wall had not been requested at that point. The building permit clearly shows a different method was used, being mortared basalt or rock fill, and this was confirmed to be present by WML during their inspection.
There is no mention of what effect a 2,700 kg Bobcat would have if driven too close to the fence.
I was not aware at this time that Structerre also designed the Marshes new retaining walls.
I was in Melbourne from 7/2012 to 5/2013 dealing with family issues.
From 6/2013 to 12/2013 I was based in Bunbury, mostly working 4/1 swings.
23/05/2013
Signed sales agreement with Henry from the Professionals Real Estate.
13/12/13
Settlement date for land in Port Lincoln.
My initial loan was for the maximum I could borrow, which allowed me an approx $60,000 safety net in case of delays in selling my house.
2013
Murray from Bunbury city council inspected fence.
16/12/2013 to 9/04/2014
Chased up Murray from Bunbury city council to see what was happening re removing sand. Received this email exchange........
1/2014 to 3/2014
I was back in Melbourne dealing with family issues.
Purchased a certified for road, rail and sea shipping container to transport my belongings from Bunbury to my new home in Port Lincoln, and put it in storage at Picton.
15/04/2014
Structerre Report concerning soil at foot of new retaining wall.
This was requested by the council to determine how much overburden on the original boundary retaining wall could be removed, but the report does not cover this scope.
This document was also withheld and I was only able to get a copy through the court after the hearing.
21/04/2014
Email containing a copy of Letter to Water Corp regarding clearance to sewerage pipes in the sewerage easement between the boundary retaining wall and the new retaining wall.
Email exchange with Gary from the City of Bunbury where he explains that Structerre had decided not to work on fixing the problem, without telling anybody. He also explains that the building permit for the retaining wall does not cover that section of the retaining wall.
Because the retaining wall may not have had a permit, there is no requirement for the Marshes to keep that section of land clear.
The Western retaining wall has its own separate permit, and the permit for this Eastern retaining wall clearly shows the disputed retaining wall.
I do not have a clue about what he thinks Eastern retaining wall building permit is for.
There are also notes on the original building permits stating that the retaining walls needed to be finished before foundations for the house could start. Given the proximity of the house to the retaining walls it is not possible that the failing Eastern retaining wall was built after the house was built. Phone call at an unknown later date where Gary tells me that he could not find any evidence that the ground level had risen uphill of the boundary fence. This is despite seeing the 700mm of extra sand, and the post and rail retaining wall built on top of my neighbors retaining wall. I have never had any feedback regarding the other issue he raised.
Emailed Notice of proposed complaint to the WA Building commission, CC to Gary and Sharyl.
Modified complaint to suit Sharyl's feedback.
According to defense documents the Marshes also sent the WA Building commission photos and a letter. I have requested a copy of these from the defense, but as of 4/8/2016 they have still not been provided.
After giving the required minimum of 2 weeks notice to Sharyl, I submitted the complaint to the Building Commission resolution process, who promptly emailed back to say that they do not deal with retaining walls.
The Building Commission also sent a Link to legal aid WA regarding dividing fences. where they state that they do not provide support for retaining wall issues. Email exchange regarding the Building Commission.
7/07/2014
Email exchange where Marshes only wanted to pay half of half (1/4), of the section of fencing between our two boundaries, and not the entire section that they caused to be damaged. Their logic being that the extra damage was done because I delayed in getting the fence replaced.
Received Survey explaining that boundary retaining wall is on my property.
I commissioned WML to draw up two retaining wall options, one at the original height of the wall, and the second one higher so that the Marsh's did not need to pull down their new retaining wall(s).
I asked James Marsh if they were willing to contribute to a higher boundary retaining wall, and he made it very clear he did not want to contribute anything. I asked what they were going to do with the extra sand above the height of the retaining wall. He told me they were going to wait until the fence had been replaced, then deal with the problem.
The bulk of this is in the email exchange on 21/08/2014.
I have the very strong feeling that they intend to place a new retaining wall very close to the boundary fence and place more sand between this retaining wall and their existing lower retaining wall, overburdening the newly reinforced boundary retaining wall. This would be the reason they asked the water corp how much clearance they needed for the sewerage pipes, and also why they still have extra retaining wall blocks.
The Marshes had made it very clear that they do not want to contribute to a higher boundary retaining wall, so a smaller boundary retaining wall option was submitted to council for building approval.
1/12/2014
A building permit to reinforce the retaining wall between 14 Trinity Rise and 11b Keble Heights was granted by the city of Bunbury.
House sale listing with Professionals expires. House had been on Market since 23/6/2013, or about 18 months.
The chances of selling the house with the retaining wall problem unresolved have proven to be very low, with an asking price that recommended by the estate agents of $430,000, or $35,000 less than I paid for it.
Was abused and hosed down when attempting to build the new retaining wall myself.
15/3/15
Went to visit a lawyer to find out where I stood and what my options were.
Harriette Benz from BENZ LEGAL charge $420 + GST = $462 per hour, recommended by WML engineering, but not recommended by me.
They told me that the boundary retaining wall is considered part of the boundary fence under the dividing fences act, and that the Marshes need to contribute regardless of if the original boundary retaining wall had a building permit or not.
Based on that advice I spent some time giving some details of the issue to the lawyer, and created this web page, and the photos web page so that all details would be available if and when they were needed.
I later received an email from that same lawyer "confirming" that the retaining wall is not covered by the dividing fences act, directly contradicting what they originally told me.
I was required to put $2,000 into a trust account before I started, and on 6th May I asked for the balance to be returned. On June 2nd I received $445.80 back after I sent a reminder email. $1,554.2 for giving me advice that was wrong.
The road, rail and sea certification on my shipping container in Picton was about to run out. I had already spent approx $1,300 on storage, with an unknown time frame before my house would be sold. I sent the shipping container to Port Lincoln without things I was likely to need in the next couple of months.
When I do finally move I will fill my van and trailer and leave everything else behind, including my fridge, washing machine, desk and bed.
7/5/2015
Re-listed house for sale with "Forsalebyowner" real estate agents as I had been unemployed for 4 months, my $60,000 safety net had been used up, and there was a very real possibility that the bank would foreclose on my loan.
Also on this date, according to the defenses “Listing conference memorandum” dated 17th February, 2016, Point 11.
An Unsigned letter from Agiuras to James Marsh dated 7th May, 2015, but I am yet to receive a copy of this as of 8/8/2016.
At this point in time, (6 June 2015), I am not using any lawyer. I have not burnt my bridges with Harriette Benz, but would prefer to find someone else if it turns out I do need a lawyer.
8/5/2015
Defendant signed an intention to defend according to paperwork received by email on 7th December.
Pre-Trail hearing at the magistrates court in Bunbury.
Both Marshes, their lawyer and I attended, but most of the time I was sent out of the meeting room.
I gave the Marshes a copy of the building permit plans and showed them the invoice for the concrete contractor.
The Marshes had been told that the cost of reinforcing this section of retaining wall would be between $5,000 and $10,0000, and they were going to go and get a "firmer" price or quote. There was no reason given for not having done so already.
The Marshes also agreed to look into removing the overburden sand from the boundary retaining wall to comply with building regulations, and to reduce the chances of the weakened retaining wall either falling by itself or as the foundations are dug.
The invoice for the concrete contractor did not specify the length of retaining wall that was going to be reinforced, and asked me to ask the contractor to clarify this point. I chased this up and forwarded it to the Marshes once I had received it.
Ian, the Marshes Lawyer, who has previously been to the site, insisted that the sand next to the original retaining wall had been removed for at least a meter from the edge of the retaining wall. This turned out to be total bullshit.
18/06/2015
Reminded Marshes that it was costing me approx $500 per week just in Mortgage payments because of delaying the sale of my house, and to please keep me informed of any progress they make, but no feedback was received until the day before the next pre-trail hearing.
26/6/2015
Alex from Bunbury Contractors came to site and updated his quote to include the length.
I discovered that the concreting quote did not include any bricks. The cost of dressing up the concrete needs to be added to the costs, but as any quote will expire before the concrete has even been poured I have simply estimated this to be around $400.
Alex also stressed that it was important to start work on this ASAP before the original retaining wall moves any more and before it rains too much and increases the load on the wall. Wet sand is heavier than dry sand.
I confirmed with WML that this change would be OK, and also asked what the maximum height the reinforced retaining wall would hold. It turns out that it was designed to hold a maximum of 30 degrees incline, less room for a spoon drain to stop water from collecting against the fence.
27/06/2015
Date that was set to auction my house because I ran out of money. No potential buyers showed up, most likely due to the retaining wall problem. Email requesting Marsh building permit. on page 3, second line.
Evening meeting with James Marsh and their lawyer. They told me that because the building permit was for 15 meters, I would need to get all 15 meters done at the same time, and they wanted a economy of scale discount. They also confirmed that it should only cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to do the shared 5.6 meters.
No quote has been shown to or received by me and I doubt very much one exists as over 4.4 cubic meters of concrete is needed, as well as form work and labor.
I told them that I simply cannot afford to do the entire section of retaining wall, and that the 5.6 meter section was urgent because of the damage to that section.
The following day I went to the council and asked them about needing to build the entire length of the permit. I was told it should be OK and to just fill in the notice of completion for the section that has been done. If the Marshes are not happy with this then I will simply pay to get a new building permit, hopefully at their cost.
30/07/2015
Second Pre-Trail hearing at the magistrates court in Bunbury.
This delay cost me a lot of money in lost wages and lost work opportunities, and was very quick and basic. The Marshes still refused to pay anything at all, I refused to delay things any longer as it was costing me a lot of money, and the previous delays had achieved nothing whatsoever. The registrar set in motion the next stage and is going to send out paperwork that needs to be filled in.
I lodged a Form 19, General procedure claim this same day.
Submitted Form 35. and List of Documents, Form 36 page 1, and Form 36, page 2. to the Magistrates court. At this date I have still not received the alternate quote to reinforce the retaining wall that the Marshes delayed the pre-trial hearing for.
15/9/2015
Visited lawyer (Max Owen) for an hour on this day.
Received Some of the building permit for the Marshes new retaining walls, confirming that Structerre are a part of the original problem, and the structural report they did on my boundary retaining wall is a probable conflict of interest.
No indication of who it was from and left in my letter box. Form BA3 page 1.Form BA3 page 2.Form BA3 page 3.Form BA3 page 4.Form BA4 page 1.Form BA4 page 2.
"Form BA7 - Notice of Completion" is missing, as well as site plans 1 & 2, and the Structerre Engineering detail HOR ??? drawings.
17/9/2015
I submitted a request for default judgment, 28 days after the deadline for the Marshes to submit their paperwork.
A copy of the 11/2012 Structerre engineering report
An email sent by me to Sharyl Marsh, Gary Bruhn from Bunbury council, and Murray Borthwick from Bunbury council, describing the situation as I saw it at that time dated 24/04/2014.
An email from me to the department of commerce dated 28/05/2014 trying to get an Adjudicator to fix the problem.
A copy of the building permit to reinforce the boundary retaining wall.
I reply to the last minute affidavit by the defense.Doc format. and PDF format.
I provide Ian with my Building permits.
09/12/2015
Court hearing by audio link. Magistrate was in Collie, I was at the Capricorn Roadhouse camp, Ian was at the Bunbury court house.
This hearing was connected, then promptly canceled as the magistrate was too busy.
I requested this hearing to be postponed till December 16th, as this date had been booked months in advance, but Ian had booked holidays and this took priority.
Arrangements were made to postpone the decision to determine if the default judgment would stand or not till Jan 15th.
16/12/2015
Original hearing date to determine damages set on 6th October 2015. Did not happen due to Ians holiday.
Hearing to determine if the default judgment will stand, and possibly to determine the amount of the default judgment. Set on December 9th, 2015.
The default judgment was appealed and overturned. Paperwork from court. Received the paper copy by post on Friday 22 Jan. Apparently it sat on someones desk for 3 days.
At some time in the past someone else appealed a default judgment, and the defense had no hope of defending themselves.
Because they had no hope of defending themselves, the judge allowed the default judgment to stand, regardless of any other irregularities.
That has now been twisted to mean that if the defense has a plausible defense, default judgments are not possible, making the entire default judgment process irrelevant.
The Judge also said she was surprised that I was not using the dividing fences act. The dividing fence is at most %10 of the total cost, also the dividing fences act has two specific acts of negligence, fire or a falling tree. Nothing else matters. This is definitely negligence, but not covered under the dividing fences act.
Also including the dividing fence in this action is insurance against losing and paying the Marshes legal fees.
The Judge also told me I would probably need an expert witness to attend the hearing, as it was up to me to prove that they caused the damage.
James Marsh has been added to Sharyl Marsh as a defendant. Statement of defense. submitted later that same day.
New deadline for defense to submit forms 35 & 36, which was sealed on 19/01/2016.
I got myself in a muddle and thought I also needed to submit forms 35 & 36. Disclosure of documents and declaration.
I also submitted an affidavit to request documents from the Marshes, but Ian Morrisons office was closed when I tried to deliver them.
My Form 35 declaration in jpeg. and Form 35 in doc format.
My Form 36. My list of documents in PDF. and in DOC format.
Original Deadline to comply with Order 4 of the general orders dated 30th July 2015.
"Each party to lodge with the court a listing conference memorandum on or by 23 October 2015 and to provide to the court unavailable dates for attendance at such conference by the same date" Info on filling in a form 32
Court listing conference at 9:30am at the Bunbury Magistrates court. I thought this was the hearing itself, instead it was only a "Listing Conference" and although it cost $106.50, it took less than 3 minutes and the only thing discussed was "how long do you think the court trail will go for ?
Details of the actual case were not discussed.
I guessed less than half a day, the defense guessed 2 days, the court decided it was better to have extra time allocated rather than not enough, and so it is set for two days.
The first two day space in the courts calendar is on the 16th and 17th of August.
And yes, you guessed it, the most amount of work I have been offered all year, and not just from one place but from two different places, overlapped with that court date, so not only did I miss out on that work, but i have most likely missed out on even being asked for other work from those same people.
Lodged and served affidavit to have witness present during the hearing in DOC format.and PDF format.
Lodged and served statement of issues and fact and law in Doc format.and in in PDF format.
Lodged and served affidavit defining costs as an attachment to the issues and fact statement, in Doc format
13/04/2016
Deadline to lodge & serve statement of expert witness.
24/03/2016
Complaint to Ombudsman about the city of Bunbury regarding heavy bias, privacy breaches, a retaining wall built with no permit, and retaining walls built with a permit but in breach of the building regulations.
Received reply from Ombudsman referring to the wrong retaining wall, completely ignoring the retaining wall built with no building permit, ignoring the breach of building regulations for the new retaining walls with building permits and ignoring privacy issues and heavy biased wrong information.
02/08/2016
Received email from defense referring to my confidential web page containing all my legal paperwork.
The Web page http://aquasate.com/house/ was created to provide additional information for potential house buyers. I have a legal obligation to inform potential house buyers of any defects in the property I am selling, and aquasate.com/house/ had a link to aquasate.com/Wall/ to show this information. The link to aquasate.com/Wall/ was removed at a later date, and at the time a google search for "link:aquasate.com/Wall/" confirmed that this was the only link to this web page. This page was then updated to include confidential information to outline my case to a lawyer, with links to relevant documents.
Unfortunately the "robots.txt" file, which defines to search engines pages that should not be indexed, was either not updated, or possibly was updated, but then inadvertently replaced with an earlier version.
A link to this page was also provided to the Ombudsman with complaints about the Bunbury city council, including privacy breaches.
It is possible the defense discovered my confidential web page via a Google search, and it is also possible that someone at the Bunbury city council also breached my privacy on this issue as well, and alerted the Marshes to search for this page.
Court hearing date. 1st day Transcript and Exhibit List
Exhibit 1, Bundle of 7 photos of the general area where the properties abut. Transcript day 1, page 35, 73.
Exhibit 2, Marked up Water Authority sewerage easement map. Transcript day 1, page 36.
Exhibit 3, Google Earth image dated 16/11/2015. Transcript day 1, page 39.
Exhibit 4, Email from Sharyl Marsh to Gary Bruin, Bunbury council, dated 25/3/2014. Transcript day 1, page 39.
Exhibit 5, Building permit 11489 dated 07/07/1994 for retaining wall. Transcript day 1, page 42
Exhibit 6, Building permit 11335 dated 23/04/1994 for retaining wall. Transcript day 1, page 45, 79
Exhibit 7, Bundle of 16 photos. Transcript day 1, page 46. and Transcript day 2, page 34.
Exhibit 8, Original title for 14 Trinity Rise. Transcript day 1, page 48.
Exhibit 9, Plans and contour for 14 Trinity Rise dated 1-08-1996. Transcript day 1, page 49. This is the one that I had no warning about.
Exhibit 10, Water authority contour survey dated 15/04/1994. Transcript day 1, page 50.
Exhibit 11. Building permit with contours dated 8/5/2012 for Marsh new retaining wall. Transcript day 1, page 56 and Transcript day 2, page 55.
MFI 1. Bunbury contractors quote for $1980. Transcript day 1, page 65.
Exhibit 12. Bundle of invoices. Transcript day 1, page 65.
Exhibit 13. Building permit for new retaining wall. Transcript day 1, page 72.
Exhibit 14. WML engineering report. Transcript day 1, page 78.
Exhibit MFI 2. Two drawings. Transcript day 1, page 81.
Exhibit 15. Two photos showing shovel and hole. Transcript day 1, page 82.
Exhibit 2A. Larger version of exhibit 2. Transcript day 1, page 83.
2nd day Transcript and Exhibit List Transcript of decision.
Exhibit 16 Bunbury contractors quote. Transcript day 2 page 22
Exhibit 17, email from Laughton to department of Commerce dated 28/05/2014. Transcript day 2, page 25.
Exhibit 18, Email from water board to Laughton 11/09/2015. Transcript day 2, page 26.
Exhibit 19, Marsh retaining wall permit issued 18 May 2012. Transcript day 2, page 26.
Exhibit MFI 3. Photos marked 27, 28 and 29. Transcript day 2, page 28.
Exhibit MFI 4. Defendants 2 Photos showing shovel against wall. Transcript day 2, page 29.
Exhibit 20, Defendants certificate of title, volume 2064, folio 162. Transcript day 2, page 30.
Exhibit 21, Print out of My web page and photos. Transcript day 2, page 33.
Exhibit 22, print screen of a google search showing my web page.Transcript day 2, page 36/
Exhibit 23, Plaintiffs statement of evidence of Andrew Laughton. Form 32A. Transcript day 2, page 41.
Exhibit 24, Defendants statement of evidence form 32A as redacted. Transcript day 2, page 49.
Exhibit 25, MFI1, Engineering drawings with water authority stamp. 15 April 1994. Transcript day 2, page 50.
Exhibit 26. 3 photos of sewer easement. Transcript day 2, page 51.
Exhibit 27, MFI4. Two photos of hole with shovel.
Exhibit 28, Fence quote. Transcript day 2, page 56. Possible Exhibit 23. Structerre report on soil at foot of new retaining wall.
Subpoena to Bunbury council for neighbors boundary retaining wall building permit
The document produced by this subpoena showed that there was no building permit for the boundary retaining wall between 12 & 14 Trinity Rise.
However it did show that a retaining wall was required, and it also showed contours. The court only allowed me to view this document, but not to get a copy.
Pre appeal hearing. I misunderstood the courts letter to be that the next pretrial hearing was the paperwork deadline. The defense stuffed up as well, and the court only had the transcript for one day. Extra appeal evidence in PDF. and in Doc format.
I forgot to apply to suspend payment of costs. Did it today. Form 9 and Affidavit to support the form 9.
Also filled form to say the boundary wall section has been completed.
15/08/2017
Building permit runs out to reinforce boundary retaining wall.
Print photos of manhole covers out of the ground. Done.
Need to find reference to "selling house before being paid" court case.
Need to get Nearmap images.
Need to write list of questions to ask witnesses.
Witnesses; Previous owners of 14 Trinity rise, Bunbury city council, owner of 15 Keble heights, WML engineering, Bunbury concrete contractors.
Need to update statement of fact and law.
Need to update Affidavit claiming costs.
Need to get 13 & 15 Keble heights surveyed, height of reference point for my retaining wall, height of sewer cover behind 15 Keble heights.
Need to find reference of previous court case used to reject default judgment.
Need to research judges previous cases used as reference.
Need to print photos of sand against fence. Need to ask for written permission to enter Marshes property to take photos, to dig hole where they dug a hole, probe for backing blocks and to survey height of sewerage points. Done 24/11/2016
Need to finish retaining wall before August 2017. Building permit runs out.
Create subpoena for City of Bunbury.
Need to chase affidavit about setting aside default judgment. Transcript day 1, page 47.
