The Checkout legal case returning to court

A legal stoush between The Chaser’s Julian Morrow and producers CJZ is headed back to court next week, five years after ABC cancelled The Checkout.

The case, first revealed by TV Tonight in 2019, centered around a fallout between former business partners, after CJZ transferred a 50% share of a Checkout joint venture company to Giant Dwarf, under director The Chaser’s Julian Morrow.

CJZ’s Nick Murray claimed Giant Dwarf was deceptive and misleading about plans with the ABC in March 2019 for an extra series of the show, when Cordell Jigsaw was discussing its potential sale of a stake in the joint venture for $50. Giant Dwarf claimed  CJZ breached its contract by blocking it from making another series and sought compensation.

The case went to court after Morrow sued CJZ producer Nick Murray, accusing him of sending defamatory emails to ABC.

The case concluded in 2022 with an outcome of misleading conduct, false representations against Morrow with his companies having to pay $760,000 in damages to CJZ, but with a $35,000 damages award for defamation in Morrow’s favour.

But The Australian reports CJZ’s Nick Murray subsequently launched an appeal over the finding that he defamed Morrow when he sent multiple emails with “gratuitous comments” to ABC management about his then-collaborator.

The appeal begins on Monday.