Who just paid $2m so the case against lawyers David Tucker and Richard Cowen can go to trial?

Who just stumped up a whopping $2m at the very last minute so a civil case against law partners can finally proceed to trial?

It’s a financial mystery beguiling members of Brisbane’s legal community.

Who just stumped up a whopping $2m at the very last minute so that the civil case against law partners David Tucker and Richard Cowen can continue and finally proceed to trial next year?

Virtually no one knows – and those who do know aren’t saying!

The liquidators of failed Gold Coast fund manager Equititrust sued the pair two-and-a-half years ago in a bid to claw back more than $17.5m which they allege was wrongly acquired at the expense of dudded investors.

The two gents deny any wrongdoing and have mounted a spirited defence.

The lengthy and complex matter in the Supreme Court, which continues to be followed closely in legal circles around the country, was in danger of petering out a few months ago after Tucker and Cowen sought a “security for costs order’’.

David Tucker

That’s money the liquidators would have to deposit with the court to cover the pair’s huge legal bill in the event that the case collapses.

Although liquidator Blair Pleash, from Hall Chadwick, has secured litigation funding from Vannin Capital to pursue the matter, it’s understood the insurance cover was far short of the $2m sought by Tucker and Cowen.

This gave the two men, who have previously failed to get the lawsuit thrown out, a reasonable expectation that their long nightmare might finally be ending and the case would grind to a halt.

But then legal eagle Stephen Russell, who is spearheading the plaintiff’s case, revealed at 4:09pm on the very last day allowed by the court that funding had lobbed from an unnamed source.

Sounds like a classic bit of psych ops to mess with an opponent’s head!

Russell, who obviously knows where the money came from, declined to comment when City Beat rang for a chat this week.

Meanwhile, Tucker and Cowen now face the daunting task of digging very deep indeed to fund their substantial pre-trial expenses.

To help mitigate that burden somewhat, about two weeks ago they asked the court to allow them to join their respective insurers to the litigation as third parties.

Justice John Bond has given them until December 18, the last sitting day before the holiday shutdown, to lodge such an application. Whether insurers agree to get involved, of course, remains to be seen.

A lawyer representing Tucker--the son of Bob Tucker, former state president of the Queensland Liberal Party--declined to comment on Wednesday.

Neither Cowen nor his counsel responded to questions sent via email.

DUD LAUNCH

Brisbane entrepreneur Lance Giles and his gang at Youfoodz had a less than stellar debut on the ASX this week.

The ready-made meal maker raised $70m from investors for its IPO, with plans to build a new manufacturing plant in the city and repay loans.

But shares sold at the offer price of $1.50 sank when trading kicked off, closing at just $1.05 on its first day.

Lance Giles.

The company, founded eight years ago, now churns out 350,000 meals, 80,000 snacks and 25,000 drinks every week. It operates three facilities in Brisbane and employs more than 450 staff.

Pandemic lockdowns helped drive growth for the company, which has about 270,000 customers, and it’s forecasting about $150m in revenue in the current financial year.

But the cash fill up from the float could hardly have come soon enough.

Net losses more than doubled to $31.4m in the 2019 financial year. Youfoodz, which has faced legal and industrial battles, also had to strike payment plans with the ATO and Office of State Revenue last year to cover arrears in payroll-related taxes and employee benefits.

HORROR RUN

The crew at Gold Coast-based G8 Education have suffered a horror run recently.

The childcare and early education colossus revealed this week that it had joined the conga line of companies suddenly discovering underpayments to staff.

The embarrassing debacle will see the company fork out $50m to $80m in remediation payments.

Dating back to 2014, the errors impacted about 27,000 current and former staff at G8, which runs about 475 centres across the country under banners such as Sand Castles and Kool Kids.

Gary Carroll

Boss Gary Carroll, who helped generate a $155m net profit last year, said the group “deeply regrets’’ the stuff up and he apologised to affected workers.

In case this wasn’t enough, G8 is now facing a class-action lawsuit filed in Victoria by Slater & Gordon.

The claim, lodged on behalf of investors who bought shares between May 2017 and February 2018, alleges the company failed to disclose key information related to its financial performance. G8 said last week it will “vigorously defend’’ the case.

RESCUE FUND

An online vino merchant has just established a $5m fund to help independent winemakers hit hard by China’s sudden and hefty tariff hikes.

Naked Wines announced on Wednesday that it had set up the “rescue fund,’’ which will allow small producers to apply for grants to cope with the unexpected setback.

“With the China tariffs story quickly developing, we are hearing first-hand from Naked’s community – and other winemakers around Australia – about the potentially crippling challenges they are facing,” Naked boss Alicia Kennedy said.

Alicia Kennedy

“Australia’s independent winemakers have been caught between a rock and a hard place with the sudden tariff hikes of up to 212 per cent on top of an already tough year.

“The reality is that winemakers reliant on traditional channels are going to suffer the most over the next 12 to 18 months. For the smaller winemakers and grape growers, there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty around their future.’’

Kennedy, who has about 100,000 customers around Australia and 750,000 across the world, said there’s a fear that retailers will drop or renegotiate contracts to take advantage of cheaper sources.

In addition to wine, tariffs have already been imposed on seafood, coal, copper and meat.

Market research firm IBISWorld this week identified other sectors of the economy which could be hit by punitive actions by the Chinese, who have taken the controversial actions despite committing to a free-trade agreement with Australia in late 2015.

“Agricultural industries, particularly producers of honey, fruit, and dairy products, should be on high alert for tariff disruptions in the near future,’’ analyst Liam Harrison warned.

“There’s also an outside chance of tariff disruption on Australian pharmaceutical exports and mining commodities.’’