MASSIVE LEGAL fees the Daily Mirrornewspaper had to pay after losing a court action taken by model Naomi Campbell were disproportionate, human rights judges ruled yesterday.
The Mirrorwas ordered by British courts to pay Campbell £3,500 (€4,180) in compensation for beaching her privacy by publishing pictures as well as articles revealing her treatment for drug addiction. But Campbell's legal costs, which the paper also had to pay, amounted to more than £1 million – including "success fees" of more than £365,000 agreed with her lawyers.
The ruling in the European Court of Human Rights was against the UK government, which sanctioned the success-fee formula in which lawyers in “no win no fee” cases stand to gain hefty bonuses.
A government review of the arrangement is under way, with a recommendation that lawyers in future should not get a success fee but a share of any damages awarded.
The Mirrorcomplained to the court that the privacy verdict in favour of Campbell, as well as the amount of legal fees it had to pay, breached the paper's right to freedom of expression, safeguarded by the European Convention on Human Rights.
But the Strasbourg judges rejected that claim, saying a balance had to be struck between “the public interest in the publication of the articles and photographs of Ms Campbell, and the need to protect her private life”.
But on the success fees, the judges said the requirement to pay them was based on a UK law which had been designed to ensure the widest possible public access to legal services in civil cases. That did not apply to Campbell, who was wealthy and therefore not lacking access to court on financial grounds.
It was on February 1st, 2001, that the Mirrorpublished a front-page article under the headline "Naomi: I am a drug addict".
There were also photos taken secretly near the Narcotics Anonymous centre she was attending. – (PA)