Latest tabloid/reality TV case apparently headed for court, this time from the U.K.: “Six men who competed for the affection of an attractive brunette called Miriam for a reality television program have threatened legal action after discovering that the object of their attention was a transsexual.” The male contestants, who are said to have signed release forms before the show’s filming, “were invited to pick the most attractive woman from a line-up. They were then filmed on dates with her. All of them chose Miriam, who, unknown to them, was born a man.” To make matters worse, some of the men “are believed to have been intimate with Miriam before discovering at the end of the show that she was a pre-operative transsexual. … Lawyers for the six men have written to Sky and Brighter Pictures accusing them of conspiracy to commit a sexual assault, defamation, breach of contract and personal injury.” (Catriona Davies, “TV suitors shocked as dream girl turns out to be a man”, Daily Telegraph, Oct. 31). Update Nov. 5: more links via Curmudgeonly Clerk and May 26: cases settled.
Posts Tagged ‘United Kingdom’
Bin Laden’s gift to lawyers
“Say what you like about Osama bin Laden. He’s done wonders for the defamation bar,” says a British barrister. A group of wealthy Saudi businessmen are engaging in “libel tourism,” suing in British courts to silence American critics. British libel law, unburdened by the First Amendment, puts the burden on defendants to prove that their stories are true; the threat of libel suits often acts to deter journalistic inquiries, but now suits are being aimed at American publishers. The Wall Street Journal faces two lawsuits for a February 2002 report on Saudi support for terror that was reprinted in its European edition. (Michael Isikoff & Mark Hosenball, “Libel Tourism”, Newsweek Web, Oct. 22). (via Postrel)
U.K.: Prison torturer must share award
“A former prison officer who became incensed after seeing ?75,000 awarded to the inmate responsible for torturing him during a jail siege has used the courts to claim back a share of the money. Malcolm Joyce pursued his action against Marvin Pomfret, 24, as a matter of principle, even though he knew he stood to gain only ?3,500.” Five years after Joyce was injured and held captive for twenty hours at a young offenders’ institution in Morpeth, Northumberland, “he was astonished to learn that one of his assailants, Marvin Pomfret, had won his claim against a local authority for failing to give him a ‘suitable’ education as a child,” a failure that allegedly contributed to the young offender’s later criminal career. (Nigel Bunyan, “Small compensation satisfies”, Daily Telegraph, Oct. 9).
U.K.: defending assumption of risk
There’s been much attention (and deservedly so) to the recent ruling of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in Tomlinson v. Congleton Borough Council (see Aug. 11), which vigorously and eloquently defended the principle of assumption of risk as a bulwark of “the liberty of the citizen” which helps prevent the imposition of “a grey and dull safety regime on everyone.” See, for example, Scott Norvell, “‘The Protection of the Foolhardy or Reckless Few’?”, TechCentralStation.com, Oct. 2. Now, in a case that arose on the Isle of Wight, “A judge has stripped a schoolboy of a ?4,250 damages award after his school argued that it would be ‘madness’ to compensate him for breaking his arm after falling off a swing as he played Superman during a sports day at Chillerton country primary school near Newport. … [O]verturning the ruling that the school was negligent, Mr Justice Gross said at London’s high court that if ‘word got out’ the boy had won his case ‘the probability is sports days and other pleasurable sporting events will simply not take place … Such events could easily become uninsurable, or at prohibitive cost.'” (Clare Dyer, The Guardian, Sept. 25; Chris Boffey, “Judge’s ruling ‘saves school sports days'”, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 25). See also articles by barrister Jon Holbrook in Spiked Online: “‘Duties of care’ to the careless and criminal” (Tony Martin case, etc.), Jul. 29; “The trouble with Making Amends” (medical malpractice law), Aug. 22; “Blind spot” (road accident caused by pedestrian), Sept. 23.
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).
“Man who claimed he fell down pothole must pay back ?238,000”
“Gary Prentice, 45, a former forklift truck driver, looks certain to lose the executive home, worth an estimated ?200,000, that he bought with the pay-out. … [As] news spread of the payment five years after the accident, neighbours began to question Mr Prentice’s version. They said he had not broken his ankle on a grassed area maintained by East Cambridgeshire district council but had done it while playing with his stepson.” Moral: watch out for those pesky neighbors (David Sapsted, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 11). “Speaking in Los Angeles on Monday, Lord Levene, Lloyd’s chairman, attacked America’s compensation culture as ‘pernicious, cancerous and ruinous’ and added that Britain was ‘falling into the same abyss’.” (“A litigious nation” (editorial), Daily Telegraph, Sept. 17).