Last week motor-racing mogul Max Mosley claimed a victory in the French Criminal Courts in his crusade against the now defunct News of the World newspaper for the infamous front page story 'F1 Boss has sick Nazi orgy with 5 hookers' in March 2008. See Kat posts on his previous crusades to the UK High Court and the then European Court of Justice here, here, here, here, here , here and here.Mr Mosley's criminal claim was based on the distribution of approximately 3,000 copies of the News of the World in France. In addition to fine any payable to the state under French law, Mr Mosley reportedly also sought damages and interest of €100,000.
On 8 November 2011 the 17th Chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris ordered News Group Newspapers to pay a fine of €10,000 for violating the 'intimacy of the private life' of Mr Mosley. This was because 'the images were recorded in a private place without ... consent' and the 'scenes are particularly intimate and intrusive'. News Group Newspapers were also ordered to pay €7,000 in damages and €15,000 in costs to Mr Mosley.
Speaking after the ruling, Mr Mosley’s lawyer Philippe Ouakrat said: 'It was very important for Mr Mosley to have the paper condemned in a criminal court as proves that the News of the World is a delinquent newspaper.' The fine, he said, was 'significant compared to the usual amounts against foreign newspapers in such cases in France'.The IPKat wonders whether this case will start a trend for bringing claims for breaches of privacy in every jurisdiction in which a publication was distributed. If so, isn't pursuing the same privacy issue in several countries an abuse of the legal process?
Merpel (out of sheer curiosity and knowing nothing about these things, of course) speculates what Mr Mosley might do with his award of damages. With today's current Euro currency crisis, is €7,000 enough to host a half decent private 'orgy'?