Television star Julian Morrow has lost his last bid to overturn a court’s decision he was not defamed by a former business partner who once dubbed him ‘Lord Voldemort’.

The High Court’s refusal to grant Morrow leave to appeal against an earlier ruling against the founding member of The Chaser comedy team could set him back more than $2.5million in legal costs.

Morrow had unsuccessfully sued fellow TV producer Nick Murray who referred to him as the supreme villain from the Harry Potter books and films. 

Murray is a co-founder and managing director of CJZ, the production company behind popular programs including Bondi Rescue, Go Back to Where You Came From and Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery.

Television star Julian Morrow (above) has lost his bid to overturn a court’s decision he was not defamed by a a former business partner who once dubbed him ‘Lord Voldemort’

After six judges of the High Court rejected Morrow’s appeal, Murray compared his foe to the knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who refuses to give up a fight even after his four limbs are lopped off. 

‘The whole thing is a ridiculous farce and a massive own goal for Morrow,’ Murray told Daily Mail Australia.  

‘This case highlights a weakness in the Australian legal system where we have had to spend millions of dollars defending a legal case that had no merit and during which Morrow kept coming at us like Monty Python’s Black Knight. 

‘We had no way of stopping the case, which could have destroyed our company, other than by spending more money to defend the litigation, including on the hopeless High Court appeal.’

Morrow told Daily Mail Australia the High Court outcome was ‘disappointing’ and referred to some findings made in his favour in the original NSW Supreme Court case. 

‘I agree with Nick this whole thing has been a ridiculous farce,’ he said.

Julian Morrow (second from right) and erstwhile business partner Nick Murray jointly produced a consumer affairs show called The Checkout (above) which ran for six seasons on the ABC

Morrow and Murray, both of whom are legally qualified, had jointly produced consumer affairs show The Checkout which ran for six seasons on the ABC from 2013.

The program, which used a satirical sketch-comedy format to highlight misleading, dishonest and unethical practices of well-known brands, was cancelled in 2018.

Murray agreed to sell Morrow his share of the pair’s TV production company for $50 before learning his onetime partner was pitching a show similar to The Checkout to the ABC without him.

Nick Murray (above) learnt his onetime partner was pitching a show similar to The Checkout to the ABC without him

Morrow’s proposed program, Are You Being Served? did not go ahead after Murray refused to sign a deed to release their joint venture The Checkout Pty Ltd.

What followed was a years-long multimillion-dollar legal dispute which saw Morrow engage barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC to claim Murray had breached their sale agreement.

Chrysanthou is currently representing Lisa Wilkinson in the defamation action brought by alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann against the journalist and Network Ten.

She has in the past successfully acted in defamation proceedings for other high-profile clients including Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and actor Geoffrey Rush. 

Murray, whose company also produces Gruen for the ABC, launched a counter-claim that Morrow had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by attempting to revive The Checkout.

Morrow alleged a series of angry emails Murray sent to ABC management contained ‘injurious falsehoods’ that implied he had fraudulently deceived Murray.

In one email Murray referred to Morrow as Lord Voldemort and threatened to discontinue Gruen XL – an extended version of the program which runs the night after its original screening – if the national broadcaster developed a show with Morrow.

Morrow, who claimed Murray sought to ‘destroy him and his relationship with the ABC’, called character evidence from witnesses including the broadcaster’s medical expert Dr Norman Swan and former Labor senator Kristina Keneally.

Last year a NSW Supreme Court judge awarded Morrow $35,000 in defamation damages but the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling.

Justice Christine Adamson found in June that Murray had made out the defence of qualified privilege as the ABC had a commercial interest in negotiations between him and Morrow, and he was entitled to update management about them.

She ruled Morrow had not proved his erstwhile business partner was acting with express malice when he sent the emails, as he believed his allegations to be true.

Morrow is a foundering member of The Chaser satirical comedy team. His failed court action against Nick Morrow resulted in an order he pay what has been estimated as more than $2.5million in legal costs 

Morrow also failed in his appeal against a finding he had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by not informing Murray of his attempts to resuscitate The Checkout.

‘His failure to disclose his negotiations with the ABC constituted misleading or deceptive conduct,’ Justice Adamson found.

Morrow’s company, The Checkout Pty Ltd, was ordered to pay $500,000 to Murray’s company, CJZ – formerly known as Cordell Jigsaw – in damages.

Morrow, who was also ordered to pay Murray’s legal costs for both proceedings, said he was ‘very disappointed by this outcome’.

‘We need to absorb the decision and work out what’s best from here,’ he told Nine Newspapers at the time. 

Morrow subsequently sought to appeal both decisions to the High Court which on December 7 refused him leave and awarded he pay Murray’s costs.  

In the attempted defamation appeal, the court found ‘the application does not raise a question of law of general importance and has no apparent prospect of success’.

In the commercial appeal, the court stated ‘the grounds of appeal proposed in the application raise no question of law of general importance and have no apparent prospect of success’.

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