By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
CBD brought word last year of what can only be described as a peak eastern suburbs yarn – the dramatic falling out between Ben Scott and James Kennedy, the two Cranbrook old boys behind high-end property reality show Luxe Listings, who are duking it out in a bitter, protracted NSW Supreme Court battle.
Kennedy’s eponymous watch and jewellery retailer has lucrative sponsorship deals with the AFL and the Victorian Racing Club, was taken to court by his former business partner last year.
Falling out: Ben Scott and James Kennedy, the creators of Luxe Listings.
Scott claimed Kennedy had breached his duties as a co-director of their production company Kentel Australasia by selling Luxe Listings to Amazon for a song, and secretly used the TV program as product placement for the Rolex and Patek Philippe watches his business sells. Kennedy denies the claims, of course.
With a salacious set of facts and a potentially colourful cast of characters (Scott has an unrelated but increasingly complicated relationship with the Ibrahim family), it’s a case that promises plenty of drama.
Instead, we’ve been treated to a gruelling battle of legal attrition. Kennedy’s team have so far gone to considerable lengths to keep details of his marketing arrangements with Rolex a secret, with a skirmish playing out before Justice Francois Kunc in the NSW Supreme Court last Friday.
A subpoena for Kennedy’s marketing arrangements with Rolex was due to be returned this week. But in what Scott’s silk Michael Green, SC, described as “an ambush”, Kennedy used his majority stake in Kentel Australasia, the production company which is the second plaintiff in the case, to appoint two new independent directors. Those directors then fired lawyers representing the company, Hajje & Associates, in its case against Kennedy.
Scott claims the directors were appointed to effectively deny him control of the company, nuke the prospective legal action and keep the Rolex arrangements out of the public eye. On Friday, Kennedy’s lawyers said the court had to determine who Kentel Australasia’s lawyers were before any decision could be made on the Rolex subpoena. Green argued that Scott still had a right to demand the Rolex subpoena be returned.
According to a court order made last Friday, the subpoena is set to be relisted in May. And the eye-wateringly expensive court battle is set to drag on. We reckon the legal bills over the Rolex question alone would be enough to buy a few luxury timepieces.
Farewell, Fletch
As our politicians slouch toward an election, it’s the season for farewells in Canberra. On Monday evening, it was former communications minister Paul Fletcher’s turn to say goodbye, with a gaggle of Liberal moderate types heading south to the Mistake by the Lake to hear their man’s valedictory.
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher delivers his valedictory speech.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
But they were made to wait. Fletcher’s address was preceded by a valedictory delivered by veteran Labor backbencher Maria Vamvakinou, who even the most seasoned politics watchers would be hard-pressed to pick in a line-up despite her 20-plus years in parliament.
Vamvakinou began speaking shortly before 4pm. Fletcher didn’t get his turn until after 5pm. We simply have to respect the commitment. You only get to quit parliament once, after all. But it was a speech lengthy enough that a few Labor types had left the chamber. And some of the Liberals who trekked to Canberra for Paul missed his speech because they had planes to catch.
When Fletcher did get his turn, he managed to land a few zingers, including the questionable claim that William Shakespeare was a small business owner who would’ve backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s long lunch policy. The Bard was, regrettably, unavailable for comment.
The Proclaimers
The gothic revival spires of NSW Government House remain a traditionalist, archaic place, despite their occupant Margaret Beazley’s reputation as a trailblazer in the legal world.
Among the more quaint of those traditions that come with the office is the commemoration of Proclamation Day, which falls on February 7, and marks the moment in 1788 when Arthur Phillip was officially “proclaimed” as the first governor of NSW – surely a day that is completely forgotten beyond the dustiest of history books.
On the other hand, it’s summer in Sydney, and who really needs an excuse for a long lunch? To mark the occasion last Friday, Beazley’s official secretary Michael Miller hosted a private luncheon on Government House grounds.
It was a fancy affair, we hear, with three courses, matched wines, waiters in black ties, all on the public dime, of course, and attended by past official secretaries, who take their duties as the top underling of the state’s top ribbon-cutter very seriously indeed.
So fancy was the affair that the governor’s official vice-regal program made no mention of it. Government House didn’t respond to our queries either.
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