Wagatha Christie to end in tears

[Beerpig]

I refer to the current trial at the High Court between two high profile wags both wives of ex-England football players.
Just my view but I think it is utterly pathetic when there's so much going on in the world (Ukraine). I mean I may be wrong but does anyone really care about the social media profile of two over pampered, over privileged individuals haemorrhaging their husbands' money on a load of vacuous tosh. The only people to benefit here are the lawyers. It will end in tears for the litigants for sure, mark my words.
A bit like the current Depp spat- I mean why is this in the news headlines every day? Who gives a monkeys about the allegations of a former partner of a has-been film actor?
Sheesh.
Still, the Wags will probably do what they do best and follow the money and to recover some of the millions thrown at this venture could easily make up in a blaze of publicity at the end of it all and then sell their stories to the media.
Mad world.

[pje16]

You said it
utterly pathetic
can't sum it up any better than that

[DrFfybes]

Lunchtime news is now on, and TBH until today I thought the Rebekah someone or other was the ex NOTW editor and it was about phone hacking.

Apparently it is about "reputation".

Sorry girls, that ship has long since sailed.

And as for who'll win in Depp vs Heard, my money's on the lawyers.

Paul

[stockton]

Seems to me that this should never have got to court and that the problem is incompetent lawyers as we saw in the Horizon case. It would seem that any lawyer participating in this sort of case needs to be sent on a course relating to "the digital age and the problems it brings".
Even now the judge could probably make clear that whoever wins, the damages awarded are likely to be negligible.

[staffordian]

Seems to me that this should never have got to court and that the problem is incompetent lawyers as we saw in the Horizon case. It would seem that any lawyer participating in this sort of case needs to be sent on a course relating to "the digital age and the problems it brings".
Even now the judge could probably make clear that whoever wins, the damages awarded are likely to be negligible.

I believe he already has, but fools and their money are easily parted...

[pje16]

Even now the judge could probably make clear that whoever wins, the damages awarded are likely to be negligible.

The real winner are the lawyers, how they sleep at night is beyond me

[mc2fool]

What I want to know is how/why did the name of one of our greatest crime writers get co-opted into this?!? OK, I see the mundane, w.ag and ag.atha, but is that it?

[pje16]

just shows how famous she is
for proper reasons....
not like the wannabees in this case

[Gersemi]

What I want to know is how/why did the name of one of our greatest crime writers get co-opted into this?!? OK, I see the mundane, w.ag and ag.atha, but is that it?

Oh - there was an interview on Breakfast TV with some woman who apparently came up with the term. Yep, even more news time taken up with this utter trivia about people that I nothing about and don't care about.

[Lootman]

What I want to know is how/why did the name of one of our greatest crime writers get co-opted into this?!? OK, I see the mundane, w.ag and ag.atha, but is that it?

Because of the sleuthness that Coleen employed in order to isolate the leak within her circle. Decoy messages, each one of which was conveyed to a different "friend", enabled her to isolate and identify the leak.

Or so she claims anyway. The jury will let us know how credible that is.

[Beerpig]

Hey don't blame the lawyers for this going to court. The case was previously adjourned to enable the parties to mediate which is compulsory under the court rules. A lawyer's remit and duty is to advise what is best in their clients' interests and the vast majority of them do just this but at the end of the day they must act on their clients' instructions. I cannot see the court taking to either of these litigants and a nothing other than Pyrrhic victory awaits one of them. Yes, the lawyers will make a good living out of the case but as Stratfordian says, a fool and their money are easily parted.

[Hallucigenia]

Wotcha BP.

I think you've got to distinguish between the merits of the case and the media stuff that goes with it.

People value their reputation and have always used the law to protect it. And you have to remember that social media allows even people you may consider insignificant to have readerships comparable to national newspapers - and I think it's actually a good thing that as we learn to live in this new world, that people get reminded the laws of libel. Especially since the people who tend to get clobbered are arrogant idiots such as Katie Hopkins - was offered a £5k settlement when she libelled a poverty campaigner on Twitter, but insisted on going to court and had to sell her house as a result.

So while it's always good for the lawyers, and seldom good for the litigants, I think these cases are no bad thing in their own way. However....

I refer to the current trial at the High Court between two high profile wags both wives of ex-England football players.
Just my view but I think it is utterly pathetic when there's so much going on in the world (Ukraine). I mean I may be wrong but does anyone really care about the social media profile of two over pampered, over privileged individuals haemorrhaging their husbands' money on a load of vacuous tosh. The only people to benefit here are the lawyers. It will end in tears for the litigants for sure, mark my words.
A bit like the current Depp spat- I mean why is this in the news headlines every day? Who gives a monkeys about the allegations of a former partner of a has-been film actor?

Welcome to the world of journalism by clicks. Although the fault lies partly with editors who play the game, the fault lies mainly with readers who keep clicking on these stories, which drives revenue which drives more of the same. Yes it would be great if there was more focus on the energy crisis and coming food crisis, but people just aren't interested. They like to read stuff that makes them angry and the media know it. The only way to counter it is to consciously avoid playing that game yourself whilst clicking on more "worthy" material - and I can certainly think of some who might benefit from a similar approach on TLF...

[CliffEdge]

Don't watch the news, any of it. Model my life on the HHG master of the universe. I have two tables?

[UncleEbenezer]

does anyone really care

Someone clearly does. He started a thread on lemonfool about it.

This is kind-of the benign face of lawyers fees. Both parties can afford to throw away millions on frivolity, and choose to do so. Sir Leicester Dedlock springs to mind: the light relief contrasting with Jarndyce.

[Arborbridge]

Even now the judge could probably make clear that whoever wins, the damages awarded are likely to be negligible.

The real winner are the lawyers, how they sleep at night is beyond me

Maybe they don't - they are too excited by all the loot they will be landed with.


Arb.

[Arborbridge]

does anyone really care

Someone clearly does. He started a thread on lemonfool about it.

This is kind-of the benign face of lawyers fees. Both parties can afford to throw away millions on frivolity, and choose to do so. Sir Leicester Dedlock springs to mind: the light relief contrasting with Jarndyce.

come to think of it, is the lawyers fees thing a bit misleading. Might it not actually be a good thing if the loot these two women have is shared around a bit? The channel of distribution of their loot just changes focus to a different group of people and hangers on.

It might actually turn out to be a progressive distribution of wealth

[terminal7]

Lighten up everyone - just read some of the quotes/extracts from Day 1 of the trial straight from Rumpole.

"I have been called a leak and it's not nice."

The court has heard that Mrs Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had lost her phone in the North Sea after it was hit by a wave before Mrs Rooney's team could see WhatsApp messages that could potentially help her case.

"To borrow from Wilde, to lose one significant set of documents may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two, carelessness, but to lose 10? That must be concealment."

Mrs Rooney arrived at court in a surgical boot alongside her husband - reminiscent of when Wayne injured his foot before the 2006 World Cup

He said a series of "most improbable events" had affected the disclosure of evidence, including Ms Watt's "poor unfortunate phone" falling into the sea "within days" of the court ordering that it should be searched for disclosure.

"What terrible luck," Mr Sherborne said.

Ms Watt has denied being the source of the leaks and has been deemed too ill to testify.

T7

[UncleEbenezer]

Lighten up everyone - just read some of the quotes/extracts from Day 1 of the trial straight from Rumpole.
T7

Are you serious? Dammit, is this a stage and/or film farce in the making?

[Lootman]

The court has heard that Mrs Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had lost her phone in the North Sea after it was hit by a wave before Mrs Rooney's team could see WhatsApp messages that could potentially help her case.

He said a series of "most improbable events" had affected the disclosure of evidence, including Ms Watt's "poor unfortunate phone" falling into the sea "within days" of the court ordering that it should be searched for disclosure.

"What terrible luck," Mr Sherborne said.

Surely the Whatsapp messages are available at Facebook and can be released by a court order? The fact that a phone that was used to send or read those messages has gone missing doesn't affect that?

More generally I think that if your case against me involves documents or items that only I have access to and control over, then your case must be weak. Accidents happen!

[swill453]

Surely the Whatsapp messages are available at Facebook and can be released by a court order? The fact that a phone that was used to send or read those messages has gone missing doesn't affect that?

I thought Whatsapp used end-to-end encryption, meaning readable messages only exist on the sender and receivers phones (unless deleted or dropped in the sea).

Scott.