The town hall which forced Twitter to unmask a blogger who criticised councillors and officials has spent more than two years fighting its case in the U.S. courts, it was revealed yesterday.
South Tyneside Council has used taxpayers’ money during this time to hire one of the biggest U.S. law firms – McDermott Will and Emery – and employed lawyers to make applications to California courts.
Yesterday an MP condemned its legal campaign as ‘a misuse of public money’, and lawyers said they doubted that taxpayers would ever recover the fees.
The case began with the presentation of a 66-page document in which the Labour-controlled council complained about a website run through servers in the U.S. It said the ‘Mr Monkey’ blog libelled three councillors and an official, infringed their privacy and caused them ‘emotional distress and mental suffering’.
Councils are not allowed to sue for libel and any effort by South Tyneside to pay for legal action for elected politicians would generate controversy in a borough that has already faced opposition over its £35million budget cuts and 1,200 job losses this year.
Media lawyer Duncan Lamont of the Charles Russell firm said: ‘If I were a council taxpayer in South Tyneside, I would be worried. This is not proportionate. It is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.’
John Hemming, the LibDem MP who has campaigned against privacy injunctions, said: ‘In a world where we are short of money to pay for public services, this is a misuse of public funds.’
A spokesman for the council, which has yet to decide what to do with the information, insisted the legal costs were less than £75,000. Daily Mail
32 comments:
If I lived in the South Tyneside area it would be a case of "First thing tomorrow morning its "Freedom of Information request time" "
The question is TonyDJ; will TMBC take similar actions to 'unmask' bloggers in Tameside?
Good question TC.
They would have to have a good reason for spending all that money PLUS they are already proven to have an unenviable record (TEL, the press censorship case, etc).
We seem to have a legal situation where the courts spend half their time keeping the rich and famous out of the headlines with super-injunctions and the other half in trying to get the not-so-rich bloggers into the headlines.
The bottom line is to adopt my policy of strict accuracy coupled with producing your sources.
We have been liaising with the relevant authorities for the last 12months regarding the nuisance blogs in this borough. We already have the identities of the main offenders, many of whom post repeatedly using different names. The worst offenders can be expecting a knock on the door in the near future.
I find this stuff amazing.
Councillor John Taylor.
1)Told the people of Dukinfield, that was guilty of racial harassment against a woman with mixed race kids.
2)Made allegations that I was using a false name to stand in the elections.
3)He met those involved in the violence against us, put their allegations in his leaflets.
4)He made threats to use new charter housing in a political smear against me.
5) He stated on his website that I was approaching children in the park.
This guy is Incredible, Phil Woolas did less than Taylor.
6) He was reported for assault and criminal damage 2010.
7) His wife assaulted me on my doorstep.
8)He told my neighbour, that I was responsible for smashing windows in Hyde.
9) He stated on his website in 2007 "We have long suspected their candidate of being a nazi racist thug"
10) John Taylor and Councillor Jim Fitzpatrick.
Work with third party groups.
Spreading smears and allegations in Dukinfield during the elections.
oops .. clumsy roy west ..
Will Chris Paul please fuck right off back to scumville. Who in the right fucking mind would elect him is totally beyond me. Chris Paul is a scum bag.
Over the last four years.
I have witnessed my local Labour Councillor working with people with a malicious agenda.
He openly invites allegations against me.
His letters show, that, he works to a smear and allegation agenda.
John Taylor thinks that he is above the law.
Thats why he told the people of Dukinfield, in a leaflet, that I was guilty of racial harassment against a woman with mixed race kids.
Chris Paul crawl back under your stone ya scumbag.
I'm just curious, is this Chris Paul?
The Labour man from Manchester?
Calling a political opponent a Nazi, racist thug is shocking, especially if done by a senior councillor. And disseminating such lying and provocative views could incite others.
All this trouble only seems to occur in the Dukinfield ward.
Chris Paul is a gobshite.
David White
Posted 24th April 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hearing Chris Paul reminds me why I left the Labour Party it is full of people like him goin on about how everyone else is somehow defective and is a complete crook or bully.
Chris Paul give me a break provide the evidence or shut up.
The Labour Party have let people down and Phil Woolas is a Blairite and as for Richard Leese well he is so right wing its a crime!
Using a third party to call a political opponent a wifebeater is absolutely outrageous.
The end game for Political parties
is around the corner,and like the Arab World, Western Countries within 15 years will be battling it out on the streets for free speech,real democracy and the removal of the
corrupt administrations,and at present regulations and clamp downs
are being implemented with stealth to create their obvious future defences.
Yes it is the gobshite Chris Paul. Long term unemployed and does the dirty work for Simon Danczuk in Rochdale. A great supporter of a congestion charge. Who cares what his view is? He is well and truely deluded.
You can see from John Taylor's letter 2003.
What a great champion of democracy and representation for all he is.
If he thinks that you are supportive of the BNP, then you have no right to Democratic Services.
There will be riots, it will be quicker than 15 years too.
I hope I can play an active part in it. If I get to become an outlaw all the better. I'm sick of the materialistic TV culture we live in.
Would be good to drop out and go live in the woods.
I DO want to get rid of the treacherous clique running Britain but I DON'T want to live in the woods.
Let's have a new pole asking who is the most bent the coincil or FIFA.
In 2009-10 the employer contribution paid by councils went up by £359million – a rise of 6.6 per cent, well ahead of inflation – to reach £5.759billion.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392908/The-gold-plated-council-pensions-funded-For-time-taxpayer-bears-brunt-premium-costs.html#ixzz1O0b15lBt
On the Councils flags and headed documents should be printed
"The Home of Parasites"
Dear Mr Quinn
During the 2010 local elections in Dukinfield, you're Council Deputy John Taylor.
Told residents that I was guilty of racial harassment against a woman with mixed race children.
He also made false statements in 2008, that I was using a false name to stand in the election.
In 2010 I reported him to the police for assaulting me in the street.
Are these you're high standards in public office for Tameside?
Dear Mr Quinn
Leader's Office.
Please can you explain to the people of Tameside, why you're office is in collaboration with third party organizations.
Spreading smears and allegations during election time, mainly against the British National Party.
Do you support these smears and allegations being spread by the likes of John Taylor and Jim
Fitzpatrick?
West you crank give it a break nobody wants to hear your whining bullshit you are boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring
Yes but you do.
Thats why you post a comment.
labour til i die I've got some new leaflets for your area I'll post one.
Hopefully I'll film you again using that foul, disgusting language that comes out of you're mouth.
Ballagher
Michael Patrick.
You should have heared the foul rant that came out of this mans mouth.
I was giving out leaflets in his area.
What a disgusting human-being.
I'll just say one last thing about
Ballagher
Michael Patrick.
I'm glad, that, there were no children around to hear what he was shouting in the street that day.
Hundreds of millions of pounds of British money sent to improve India’s schools has been wasted, as a governmental report reveals the country’s education standards are in fact falling.
Over the last eight years, LibLabCon governments have pumped £388 million into India’s education system and plan to spend another £117 million by 2013.
Labour 'til I die, no-one's as boring as a bitter loser who lost an unloseable seat to a useless Tory candidate who was astonished at her win. Charlie Meredith was a very popular Labour councillor, I know people who wouldn't normally vote Labour but DID just because it was him, it took a complete moron to lose a seat like that.
Our education system is a ruin. Girls outperform boys by a large margin. I myself grew quickly bored. I have a IQ in the region of 140 on the Stanford Binet intelligence scales and I don't have a-levels, does gthat make sense when you meet the average dumbkopf who fritters away their student loan on drink and drug?
Course not we live under a system that rewards obedience and punishes ideological rebellion, as it did with me.
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