The Snitch: Angus and Julia Stone seek $3m in legal stoush with manager

How many millions are indie darlings Angus and Julia Stone suing over? What’s more gangster than a scooter injury and who’s the high flying lawyer with a new love interest? The Snitch is here.

Indie musicians Angus and Julia Stone have claimed in court that their management ripped them off by almost $3 million.

The figure was revealed in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday in the siblings’ case against their ex-manager Tim Manton, international music management firm, TaP music, and its English parent company HNOE.

And with the interest they are claiming in the matter, the figure will easily surpass that amount.

The Stones, who went global thanks to their hit “Big Jet Plane” and are about to go on tour to support their new album, launched legal action in January when they filed a statement of claim with the court alleging overcharging by Manton and TaP.

The court heard on Friday that the brother and sister from Sydney’s Northern Beaches are suing for two amounts that add up to just over $2.7 million.

According to court documents, they claim HNOE breached their “management agreement” by overcharging for its “commission” in relation to the music duo’s “back catalogue” of music.

Angus Stone, Tim Manton and Julia Stone at Coachella on April 10, 2015.

The musicians said in court documents that the overcharged amount was “at least $1,109,898.33” and had been clocked up since November 2015.

For the second amount, the Stones claimed that Manton, his company and HNOE took more than $1.6 million in management fees that were in excess of the “capped amount” as stipulated by the Entertainment Industry Act.

As such, the musician’s lawyers have told the court they want the money paid back.

Manton, who is based in Northern NSW, managed the Stones for more than a decade before the parties split last year.

In court, Manton and HNOE argued that it was not the intention of entertainment laws “to set a worldwide cap on entertainment industry commissions” and that the case can only be aired in a UK court.

Justice Scott Nixon allowed the case to continue but gave the Stones until June to file an application to amend their statement of claim.

Their lawyer Chris Dalton from Matthews-Dalton said: “Whilst it is not appropriate to comment at this stage, I can confirm the motion for strike out was dismissed and our clients will continue with the proceedings in NSW.”

A defence to the action is yet to be filed.

The Stones were ordered to pay both sides’ legal costs to strike out the case.

SCOOT

Is there anything more gangster than an electric scooter injury?

Well, yes.

Which is precisely why it came as a jarring surprise that Brandon Maseuli, who police have alleged in court is one of Sydney’s most dangerous gangsters, suffered a crippling injury while riding one.

What happened to Harley Davidsons? Are they still a thing?

Brandon Maseuli and his scooter injury.

Maseuli is facing 77 criminal charges for an alleged crime spree that included accusations that he plotted to murder one of the members of rap group OneFour, smuggled $1 million of ice embedded in the fabric of T-shirts, and attempted two heists to steal more than $1 billion worth of cocaine -- one of which included a truck heist that mirrored a scene in the movie Heat.

According to court documents, he also rides electric scooters with limited success.

Police documents tendered to court said Maseuli, 27, “is currently handicapped by an injury sustained as a result of an electric scooter collision” in May 2023.

Arrest shots of the 27-year-old last year showed he required crutches and had some pretty significant scaffolding holding his injured leg together.

Last week Maseuli told the NSW Supreme Court he should be granted bail because of the injury.

But police did their homework and spoke to Maseuli’s doctor who said he regularly missed medical appointments and that the brace was due to come off anyway.

He could receive any further treatment in jail, police said.

Bail refused.

CLASS ACT

It turns out the lawyer who has struck fear into the Australian business community and local class action firms is quite the man about town.

Charles Bannister and Dani Morris at The Boathouse, Rose Bay.

Earlier this year, Charles Bannister took a 30 per cent investment in the Australian incarnation of Pogust Goodhead, the UK class action firm that has set up shop locally and promised to take aim at the big end of town.

It seems Bannister’s love life also has a high flying edge straight out of Hollywood central casting with social media postings indicating he has shacked up with Bondi nurse Dani Morris.

In-between deals, Bannister, who runs an eponymous civil firm in Sydney, has been pictured in loved-up poses with Ms Morris at up-market eateries in Rose Bay and elsewhere.

The arrival of Pogust comes after the Federal Government rolled back rules surrounding class action lawsuits in 2022.

It’s got the business community worried with the firm having launched a $70 billion class action in the UK courts against Brazilian miner Samarco, which is 50 per cent owned by BHP.

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