Publicans Brett Viney and Matthew Mitchell ordered to pay $383,000 in damages for hiding Windmill Hotel beer rebates from investors

Two top publicans pocketed $50,000 in beer rebates they hid from their investment partners, a court has ruled – and now must pay out almost $400,000 in damages for their deceitful conduct.

Brett Viney, his business partner and his company have been ordered to cover all legal costs and pay $383,000 in damages. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

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Two prominent Adelaide hoteliers have been ordered to pay $383,000 in damages to a father-son duo they duped out of a $50,000 beer deal – and reimburse all of their legal costs.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled Brett Viney and Matthew Mitchell were “jointly and separately liable” for thousands of dollars spent suing them over the Windmill Hotel at Prospect.

The decision follows an earlier ruling that they and their company, the Bloody Mary Group, were false, misleading and deceitful in their dealings with Michael and Nicholas Crouch.

Justice Sam Doyle found Mr Viney and Mr Mitchell stood to make $50,000 from beer rebates brokered with Carlton and United Breweries, Asahi and Coopers.

Despite telling the Crouches they were “equal investors” in the pub, Mr Viney and Mr Mitchell instead kept that windfall for themselves – and deliberately hid it from their partners.

The court found Brett Viney’s conduct was misleading and false, while his evidence in court was evasive, unpersuasive and untruthful. Picture: Mike Burton

“Mr Viney both conveyed false representations, and engaged in misleading conduct, (rendering) this equal investors representation false,” Justice Doyle said.

“He knew the equal investors representation was false (and) well understood the true nature and effect of the rebate.

“But he chose to conceal it from the Crouches so that he and Mr Mitchell might enjoy the benefit of it to the exclusion of the Crouches.”

The Bloody Mary Group (BMG) has operated venues including Pirie & Co, the Saracen’s Head, Grace the Establishment – also known as Stone’s Throw – and The Archer.

It also had a stake in Naracoorte’s Kincraig Hotel, alongside Port Adelaide co-captain Ollie Wines and former forward Angus Monfries, which went into administration in 2019.

In his judgment, Justice Doyle said that, in 2016, Mr Viney approached law student and barman Nicholas Crouch and asked him to help buy the Windmill for $1.4 million.

He in turn sought support from his father Michael – an academic specialising in cancer research – and they agreed to contribute $350,000.

Michael and Nicholas Crouch partnered with the Bloody Mary Group to buy the Windmill Hotel in Prospect.

Justice Doyle said the Crouches remained unaware of the rebate deal, which BMG brokered before the pub was purchased, until the Windmill was in financial difficulty.

He said the Crouches “did not fully understand the rebate agreements (but) assumed there would be an honest and reasonable explanation”

Mr Viney and Mr Mitchell, he said, told them the rebates were being paid to BMG because they “relate to the wider BMG group”.

In March 2019, the Windmill was sold to its new owners for $975,000 and the Crouches took legal action to recover their investment, alleging false and misleading conduct by BMG.

Justice Doyle said the father-son duo had made out their case, dubbing Mr Viney’s evidence in court “evasive”, argumentative, reluctant, “unpersuasive and untruthful”.

“Mr Viney and Mr Mitchell’s failure to inform the Crouches of the expected availability and intended use of those rebates was deliberate,” he said.

“I do not accept, and reject as untruthful, the evidence of both Mr Viney and Mr Mitchell to the effect that they believed that the rebates belonged to BMG.

“They both knew and understood that the effect of (their conduct) was to take for their own benefit, and to the exclusion of the other investors, a financial opportunity that belonged to the Windmill Hotel.”