It's not like spotless can turn around and say "oh yes we admit...

It's not like spotless can turn around and say "oh yes we admit there was a discrepancy we will pay out" they of course will deny it no matter what and then try to settle.

Perhaps they took a calculated risk. If spotless share price went up I doubt no one ever would have bothered to take them to court as they would have made money anyway.

Unfortunately this did not happen and management realizing this stepped down bringing in a guy from KPMG to help restore faith in spotless's book keeping.