Comedian Julian Morrow of Chaser fame has been found by the NSW Supreme Court to have been “misleading and deceptive” in negotiations over the ABC program The Checkout.
Judge James Stevenson found Morrow failed to disclose a commercial opportunity to his partner, television producer Nick Murray.
Morrow, who started the legal action against Murray, was found to have acted in breach of his duties as a director.
The court found that Murray had made defamatory comments, in emails to the ABC, and awarded Morrow $35,000 in general and aggravated damages.
However, Morrow faces a large damages bill following the court case which went for ten days.
The two men in 2012 formed a joint venture, Jigsaw Dwarf, to produce a consumer affairs television series, The Checkout. Morrow’s company was Giant Dwarf and Murray’s Cordell Jigsaw.
The JV produced six series of The Checkout with the ABC between 2013 and 2018.
But the business relationship deteriorated “bitterly” and Morrow played an increasingly minor role in the production of The Checkout.
The show was put “on hiatus” by the ABC in the 2018-19 financial year.
Morrow tried to persuade relevant ABC executives to recommission The Checkout and, against this possibility, pitched a new consumer affairs show to the broadcasting network.
At the same time, Morrow negotiated with Murray for the sale by Cordell Jigsaw of its interest in the joint venture.
And in early 2019 Cordell Jigsaw sold its shares in the joint venture to Morrow’s Giant Dwarf for $50 and on terms that included a payment to of 2% of the company’s “cash budget” on any further series of The Checkout.
The judge found Morrow did not mention to Murray that he was, in effect, negotiating with the ABC, ultimately to re-badge his proposed consumer affairs show to be the seventh series of The Checkout.
“By not informing Mr Murray of his dealings with the ABC during March and April 2019, Mr Morrow engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct,” the judge said.
In November 2015, Morrow offered to buy out Cordell Jigsaw’s interest in the joint venture for $200,000, the court heard.
That offer was rejected. Murray sent a memo to Morrow:
“Thanks for the kind offer, but as I said last week, we are not interested in exiting the Checkout/Jigsaw Dwarf JV.
“We have always been thrilled to be involved in this program and I have approached the relationship in good faith all along.
“When you approached us about co-pitching this show, I expected the production will be more of a cooperative process.
"When it became apparent you wanted to run the show your way despite my ongoing observations about the potential efficiency gains to be made from a more traditional production method, we were happy to take a hands off approach.
"As we discussed the other day, while it is frustrating for me to be ignored in the way I am on this show, I am happy to continue my involvement.”
The series was profitable. Cordell Jigsaw earned about $170,000 from series three in 2015, $175,000 from series four in 2016, and $187,000 from each of series five in 2017 and series six in 2018.
Morrow calculated that Cordell Jigsaw was paid a little over $1 million from series one to six. He described it as the “worst deal I’ve ever done”.
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