Ronowska v Kus [2012] NSWSC 280

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Ronowska v Kus [2012] NSWSC 280 Hearing dates: 20, 21 and 22 March 2012 Decision date: 22 March 2012 Jurisdiction: Equity Division Before: Pembroke J Decision: See paragraph [47] Catchwords: ESTOPPEL - Equitable proprietary estoppel - primary importance of providing just and conscionable satisfaction of the plaintiff's expectation - no requirement that unfulfilled expectation be precisely quantified and valued - relevance of change in circumstances after promise made CONTRACT - Intention - Contracts between family members - relevance of the relationship between parties, context and absence of formality Legislation Cited: Migration Regulations, 1994 (Cth) Succession Act, 2006 Cases Cited: Ashton v Pratt (No 2) [2012] NSWSC 3 Delaforce v Simpson-Cook (2010) 78 NSWLR Giumelli v Giumelli (1999) 196 CLR 101 Jennings v Rice [2002] EWCA Civ 159 Riches v Hogben [1985] 2 Qd R 292 Tadrous v Tadrous [2010] NSWSC 1388 Texts Cited: Estoppel & The Protection of Expectations, Elizabeth Cooke [1997] 17 LS 258 The Remedial Discretion in Proprietary Estoppel, Simon Gardner (1999) 115 LQR 438 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Krystyna Urszula Ronowska - plaintiff Ludwig Kus - defendant Representation: Counsel: D M Roberts - for the plaintiff M W Hadley - for the defendant Solicitors: George West - for the plaintiff Maclarens Lawyers - for the defendant File Number(s): 2011/257705