CHADWICKS FRONT COURT OVER DAMAGE

Controversial mother and son duo Wendy and Matthew Chadwick, the former owners of Sunshine Coast operation Express Print & Mail, have fronted court over a $365,000 damages bill from their former landlords.

John and Luella Schlecht, the landlords of the Kunda Park building the Chadwicks moved Express Print & Mail into five years ago, as ownership of their business changed hands between mother and son and back again, claim the Chadwicks reneged on cost agreements over renovations, and damaged the building.

The ten-day judge-only court case is now over, with judgment on the merits of the damages claim to be made by the judge. The Chadwicks could be up for north of $700,000 if the judgement goes against them, when the damages bill, legal fees for the case which had barristers and solicitors on both sides, court costs and other fees are totted up. The Chadwicks have already been ordered to pay the Schlechts $100,000 by the courts, as a result of them delaying the case from court in November by changing their defence.

The court proceedings have been an eye opener, with penetrating questions and strong accusations raised by the barrister for the landlords over various business dealings of the duo, including with Hervey Bay business they bought from Chris Kreiger, with the liquidator of one of the Chadwick companies that briefly owned the Express Print & Mail business, with the former MBE business part-owned by Wendy Chadwick, and with the ownership structure of Express Print & Mail.

At one point the barrister asked the Chadwicks why they told the judge, His Honour Ken Barlow KC, that Express Print & Mail was "not hopelessly insolvent” when it had "no assets and $3.8m worth of debts."

The Schlects’ lawyer also questioned why the proceeds from the sale of the business to the current owners did not go to the debt-laden company that went into liquidation, but to a different company, Radwick Investments, owned by Wendy Chadwick, the same company that owned the assets that Express Print & Mail used.

Wendy Chadwick was the founder and owner of the Sunshine Coast based Express Print & Mail business, which the Schlechts lawyer said lost more than $1m a year in three years of business before she sold it to a company owned by her son Matthew, in 2020, and then bought it back again shortly afterwards in a different company which she owned, EPM Operations, minus its multi-million dollar debts – much to the anger of the rest of the South East Queensland printing community – and relocated it to the new site in Kunda Park.

She was put under the blowtorch by Schlechts’ lawyer in court, who pulled no punches in his attempts to undermine her credibility, both in public, and when she had been removed from the court. The case has revealed much about the modus operandi of Wendy Chadwick and her son Matthew, as the duo left a stream of creditors in their wake, not least their own staff who were owed $400,000 in superannuation, and the ATO which was owed $1.25m. Prior to Express Print & Mail, Wendy Chadwick had been an MBE franchisee, with the Schlechts’ lawyers telling the court that the franchisor MBE had instigated litigation against her.

The Chadwicks are being sued over costs by the owners of the Kunda Park building that the business, which by then was known as EPM Operations, moved into after it left its Buderim site. The owners of the Kunda Park building say they undertook renovations on the Chadwicks’ behalf, to prepare the facility when they moved there five years ago, including constructing a mezzanine floor to accommodate printing equipment, with costs to be split. The owners also allege the Chadwicks did further modifications to the building without authorisation and against their specific instructions, and damaged the building in material ways.

The court heard that when the Chadwicks received an invoice for the landlords from renovation costs, Wendy Chadwick sent an email to Matthew Chadwick that said, “What a joke.” The Chadwicks claim all works were agreed in advance, but have no documentation to back that up, saying the agreements were “verbal”. 

The Schlecht family, which owns the building, and which runs an established building business, is seeking rectification costs for the building, as well as legal fees and court costs, after what they say have been “multiple delays” in response.

The court case, held in Queensland, also attempted to untangle who owned the Express Print & Mail business and when, as ownership swapped between Wendy and Matthew Chadwick as their various entities owned Express Print & Mail at various points. The court also attempted to determine who was a director at what time, including when the lease was signed on the new building, when Matthew Chadwick, with no assets, was the director, but his mother signed the lease.

When both Matthew and Wendy Chadwick were being cross-examined by the Schlechts' lawyer, His Honour Barlow over-ruled multiple objections from the Chadwicks' barrister.

Wendy and Matthew Chadwick moved Express Print & Mail into the 1400sqm premises in April 2020, on a five-year lease. Two years later they sold the business to sales manager Scott Lehnhoff and account manager Glenn Weldon. 

The Chadwicks moved their print business into the Kunda Park site when the company, which after transfers of ownership between Wendy and Matthew was known as 128950489 Pty Ltd, was put into liquidation, with $3.8m in debts, including $1.34m to the landlords of their Buderim premises, $1.25m to the ATO and $400,000 in unpaid staff super.

The Express Print & Mail business was initially owned by Wendy Chadwick, who sold it to her son’s company, known as 128950489 Pty Ltd. Then the business was sold by Matthew Chadwick back to his mother Wendy in May 2020, a month before 128950489 Pty Ltd was liquidated.

To say the rest of the SE Queensland print community was less than impressed with the Chadwicks' moves between 2019 and 2022 would be an understatement. Other printers in the area were furious, as they felt while they were paying 100 per cent of their rent, tax, super and other costs, Express Print & Mail had been able to dump its large debts and start again. Hearing perky adverts on morning radio for Express Print & Mail only added to their ire.

Wendy Chadwick says she is now retired, while her son Matthew is currently in politics.

Judgement in the case is to come.