and the other side of the coin for Rich

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=6&storycode=44853&c=1

A photographer who was arrested, handcuffed and detained for eight
hours
when he tried to take pictures of a road accident has won more than
£5,000
in damages and an apology from Thames Valley Police.

Police have also deleted the record of MK News photographer Andrew
Handley
and destroyed DNA samples and fingerprints they took from him when he
was
held.

Handley, a photographer for 34 years, was arrested by a sergeant as he
tried
to take pictures at the scene of the accident, at Stony Stratford,
Milton
Keynes, in September 2006.

 

Le 07/01/2010 14:15, Paul Heslop a écrit :

wowh... french police would have kept this and prosecuted the
photograph for resistance :-(

jdd

 

heh

 

That's the 9th or 10th time a photog has won damages in Britain for
police misuse of their powers in the last couple years. It could turn
into the same kind of industry that paparazzi had in the U.S. suing
people who hit them. All you have to do is roam the streets until you
see the cops at an accident scene or something then start snapping.
Could be lucrative.

 

Apparently it was an out of court settlement. The police knew they
were wrong and they didn't need a judge to tell them.

MC

 

to be fair England has become a place where anything goes in terms of
suing people for damages. Apparently during this cold snap we are
having some schools refuse to open as they are scared they will be
sued if a child has an accident.

 

took some time before the decision though?

 

The machinations of administration run slow I'm afraid )

MC

 

thanks to the pay per hour of solicitors :O)

 

Oh, you have no idea.

The only think the UK has over the US in the lawsuit department is that
in the US, truth is a defense against libel.

 

yeah, we tend to think of this as one of the less desirable imports
from America. that and mcdonalds :O)

 

:
: In article <>,
: >
: >to be fair England has become a place where anything goes in terms of
: >suing people for damages. Apparently during this cold snap we are
: >having some schools refuse to open as they are scared they will be
: >sued if a child has an accident.
:
: Oh, you have no idea.
:
: The only thing the UK has over the US in the lawsuit department is that
: in the US, truth is a defense against libel.

I'm not sure how to read that. Are you saying that it's a *bad* thing to have
truth be a defense against libel? I'd have thought it was a good thing. There
are a lot of things wrong with the U.S. legal system, but I don't think that's
one of them.

Bob

 

I had the same reaction to the comment. I thought perhaps it was
worded differently than the intent of the writer.

 

In terms of being a free-for-all for lawsuits, the only area in which the
UK outdoes the US is that truth is NOT a defense agains libel. It gets
confusing when you are cynically boasting about how bad things are, I
guess.

 

yeah, our satirical magazine Private Eye is full of cases where even
folks from other nations use our libel laws to sue people for things
they have written in the USA etc. The cases may be winnable but
obviously fighting them is expensive and people can and do become
ruined fighting a just cause.