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Carter-Ruck
Company typeLaw firm
FounderPeter Carter-Ruck
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Websitewww.carter-ruck.com

Carter-Ruck is a British law firm founded by Peter Carter-Ruck.[1] He founded the company after his former partners in Oswald Hickson told him to retire.[2] According to their website they specialise in libel, privacy, international law and commercial litigation.[3] They offer some of their services including libel actions on a no win, no fee basis.[4]

Notable cases

Madeleine McCann

The firm has been involved in several libel cases related to the missing child, Madeleine McCann. The Independent reported in July 2008 that they were advising the so called, "Tapas 7" who were dining with the child's parents when she went missing.[5] In September 2009, they launched a libel case against a website which was claiming that the child was dead. The website also made claims that child's parents whee in some way responsible for her disappearance.[6] In a statement on the website the owners also claimed that Carter-Ruck demanded that copies of leaflets and booklets it has published be handed over to them.[7]

Michael Martin

Michael Martin, the former Speaker of the House of Commons spent over £21,000 of public funds employing Carter-Ruck to defend him against newspaper reports that questioned whether he acted impartially in the House of Commons.[8]

Police Federation

The Police Federation of England and Wales employed the firm on a no-win, no fee basis after a Detective Inspector of Northumbria Police produced a report on a murder case that was later called "discredited" and "unfounded" by a more senior officer. The Guardian reported that if the Detective Inspector won his case of slander against the force that the force would end up owing Carter-Ruck around £1.5 million.[9]

Shilpa Shetty

Shilpa Shetty consulted Carter-Ruck after the Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy, she failed to pay a bill of £13,000 pounds and was later sued by the firm as a result.[10]

Trafigura

In September 2009, The Guardian reported that Carter-Ruck demanded it delete published articles relating to the Trafigura toxic oil disaster, saying it was "gravely defamatory" and "untrue" to say that Trafigura's waste had been dumped cheaply and could have caused deaths and serious injuries. The Guardian later reported that Trafigura agreed to pay compensation to 31,000 west African victims. The Guardian also alleged that other media outlets in Holland and Norway were also threatened with gagging orders.[11] These turned out to be NRK in Norway, and Volkskrant and Greenpeace in Holland [12].

In October 2009, The Guardian reported that it was forbidden to report in a parliamentary matter, being "forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret. The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck." The paper further claimed that this case appears "to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights".[13]

The question subject to the gagging order was from Paul Farrelly, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.[14]

The firm abandoned attempts to prevent reporting of the events, which concerned Trafigura and a report into a toxic waste dump in Côte d'Ivoire, the day after The Guardian had been prevented from reporting it.[15][16]

According to a press release on the firm's website the reason that The Guardian could not report the question asked by Paul Farrelly was because a gagging order has been in place since 11 September 2009, before the MP asked the question. They also stated that it had never been their intention to prevent the press reporting on parliament and that they had since agreed on changes with The Guardian to the gagging order so that they could report on the issue.[17]

The Conservative MP, Peter Bottomley has stated that he will report the firm to the Law Society due to their actions which prevented The Guardian covering parliamentary proceedings.[18]

Criticism

Sir Christopher Meyer, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) said that the PCC was the firm's "sworn enemy" and accused the firm of using a Commons select committee hearing to attack the PCC. He suggested that Carter-Ruck and other media law firms probably saw the PCC as their enemy because, "we can do the job for free and can provide a degree of discretion." Cameron Doley, managing partner with Carter-Ruck denied the accusations made against them.[19]

Competitors

Other firms involved in the same field as Carter-Ruck include Olswang and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain.[20]

References

  1. ^ The man who invented the London libel industry, Nigel Horne, The First Post, 13 October 2009
  2. ^ Peter Carter-Ruck, obituary, The Independent, 22 December 2003, retrieved 13 October 2009
  3. ^ www.carter-ruck.com Accessed 13 October 2009
  4. ^ Wade, Alex (May 7, 2009). "Credit-crunch victims turn to no-win, no-fee for help". The Times. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  5. ^ Peck, Tom (7 July 2008). "Carter Ruck will advise 'Tapas 7'". Retrieved 2009-10-13. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "McCann lawyers seek site removal". BBC News. 19 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  7. ^ "McCann lawyers seek to shut website". Press Gazette. 23 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  8. ^ Helm, Toby (11 October 2007). "Commons Speaker spent £21k on libel lawyers". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  9. ^ Leigh, David (2 April 2004). "Law firm may net £1.5m in costs for police slander suit". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  10. ^ "Shilpa Shetty's firm sued for payment default". OneIndia. July 24, 2007. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  11. ^ "Papers prove Trafigura ship dumped toxic waste in Ivory Coast". The Guardian. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ "Press Release" (PDF). 23 September 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  13. ^ Guardian gagged from reporting parliament, The Guardian, October 12, 2009
  14. ^ David Leigh "Gag on Guardian reporting MP's Trafigura question lifted", The Guardian, 13 October 2009
  15. ^ Parliamentary question gag lifted, BBC News, 13 October 2009
  16. ^ Trafigura gag attempt unites house in protest, David Leigh, The Guardian, 13 October 2009
  17. ^ "Press Release by Carter-Ruck on behalf of Trafigura Limited and Trafigura Beheer BV" (PDF). 13 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  18. ^ Summers, Deborah (14 October 2009). "MP to report Carter-Ruck to Law Society over attempt to gag Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
  19. ^ Luft, Oliver (25 March 2009). "PCC chairman Sir Christopher Meyer criticises media law firms". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  20. ^ "How to get a shred in law". The Lawyer. 11 February 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
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