Personal Injury Claim results from Royal protection techniques

Ever since the tragic death of princess Diana and the consequent issues about the lengths to which press paparazzi will go to get photos, the issue of Royal privacy and the boundaries between general legal rules and the need to protect the Royal family and other public dignatories has been a difficult area.

This issue has now apparently crossed over to the personal injury area, due to a claim being made against the Metropolitan Police by a photographer, who was seriously injured by being run over by an unmarked police car.

The Claimant, Mr. Margiocchi sustained some serious injuries which included a broken leg  and Achilles tear. As with many personal injury claims, what may potentially make this claim a large one is the loss of earnings claim, which may transpire to be an ongoing loss of earnings claim, as the Claimant’s job requires him, ironically to be fairly fast on his feet and to be somewhat aggressive in order to get the best photos

It will be very interesting to see whether this case gets anywhere near court and if so, what the outcome would be. It seems likely that the defence would be along the lines that normal road safety requirements cannot apply to a situation where a member of the Royal family is in a car or convoy and a rapid exit is needed from a location to ensure the safety of the member of the Royal family. Whether that argument would succeed fully or partially in law is an interesting point. We suspect it wouldn’t and that this case won’t get anywhere near trial, but we will monitor with interest.