Wealthy Perth families at war over wall

Two wealthy families from Perth’s richest suburb have ­entered a legal brawl in Western Australia’s ­Supreme Court over a wall.

Tom Crage, owner of Hire Intelligence.

Two wealthy families from Perth’s richest suburb have ­entered a legal brawl in Western Australia’s ­Supreme Court over a wall.

The Crage family is suing its neighbours for the past 30 years on Peppermint Grove’s The Esplanade – the Wooles family – over a wall the Crage family built decades ago.

The Crages are seeking a court injunction, arguing that the Wooleses had “previously committed the tort of trespass by planting vines and allowing them to grow over and damage” the first wall built by the Crages in 1991, and which happened to ­encroach into the Crage ­property.

In a judgment, Master of the Supreme Court of WA Craig Sanderson wrote that unless restrained from doing so, the Wooleses ­intended to commit “further such heinous acts”.

He said it was worth “pausing to marvel” at the nature of the relief being sought by the Crages, noting there was no indication that the Crages wanted to demolish the wall and rebuild on the boundary line.

“Presumably, what they wish to do is lean over the walls from time to time and ensure that the defendants are not in some way interfering with the surface of the wall facing the defendants’ property,” he wrote.

“Presumably, they may also from time to time point out to the defendants that the wall is on their land and emphasise that fact ought not be forgotten. Otherwise the status quo … would continue.”

He noted that according to the Wooleses’ pleadings, the wall’s greatest point of deviation from the boundary was no more than 135mm within the ­Crages’ lot.

“In other words, this case concerns a sliver of land hardly wide enough to accommodate a ­punnet of petunias,” Mr Sanderson said.

“Such is the value of land in Peppermint Grove.”

The riverfront suburb of Peppermint Grove is Perth’s wealthiest, home to the smallest local government area in the country.

Tom and Val Crages were the co-founders of office equipment rental group Hire Intelligence, while Anthony Wooles is a ­corporate adviser and director who is also the chairman of ­mining technology company Imdex.

Among the legal points being fought over between the two families is an argument from the Wooleses that they have a claim of adverse possession over the disputed land.

Under adverse possession, a trespasser gains the right and title to property on which they have trespassed if that possession continues for 12 years.

“Adverse possession is one of the very few if not the only instance in Australian jurisprudence where a wrongdoer is rewarded for his or her wrongful acts,” Mr Sanderson said.

The Crages argued that adverse possession could not occur when it was themselves, rather than the Wooleses, who were responsible for building the wall within their boundary.

Mr Sanderson lamented the state of the relationship between the two neighbours, writing that “the chance of these parties agreeing on anything would seem to be no more than a pious hope”.

“The great American poet, Robert Frost, said ‘Good fences make good neighbours’.

“In this case, there is no doubting the quality of the ­fences,” Mr Sanderson said.