Vlado Naumovski v Robert Ugrinovski

In the matter of Vlado Naumovski v Robert Ugrinovski, the dispute before the court centred around the interpretation and implementation of a heads of agreement which had been agreed upon to settle the proceedings between the parties. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The applicant, Vlado Naumovski, sought leave to appeal against the decision of the trial judge, who had ordered the adoption of a special referee's report in part. The applicant contended that the trial judge had misconstrued the terms of the heads of agreement.

The court was tasked with determining whether the applicant's grounds for appeal were sufficient to warrant leave to be granted. The applicant argued that the trial judge had misunderstood the heads of agreement and that this error affected the orders made. The respondent, Robert Ugrinovski, opposed the application for leave to appeal, asserting that the applicant had not raised the specific grounds for appeal before the trial judge and that any complaints about the reasons given did not impact the orders made. The court needed to assess whether the applicant's grounds for appeal, which were not previously raised, could provide a basis for an appeal and whether the alleged errors in the reasons for judgment warranted reconsideration.

The court considered that the applicant's grounds for appeal were matters that could have been raised before the trial judge. Given that these issues were not brought to the trial judge's attention, the court found that they were not suitable grounds for an appeal. Furthermore, the court held that any complaints about the reasons for judgment did not affect the orders made, and thus, the appeal was unlikely to succeed. Consequently, the court refused the applicant's application for leave to appeal. The court's decision emphasised the importance of raising all relevant grounds for appeal before the trial judge and ensuring that any complaints about reasons for judgment directly impact the outcome of the case.