Harassment and discrimination solicitors

Key harassment and discrimination cases

The following are a few examples of cases that we have dealt with:

• Successfully conducted a claim in harassment by a former director of a football club and his wife against in relation to the defendants’ comments in various match day programmes, repeated by the club and a radio station. This included seeking both an interim and a final injunction against the defendants. We succeeded at first instance in relation to the director but the court refused to give judgment on behalf of the wife on the basis that the defendants had not targeted the wife. This was successfully appealed and the judgment clarified the law in that it confirmed that “targeting” under the Act was not purely subjective, the test was that would a reasonable person in possession of the facts consider that the party had been targeted.
• The defence of a claim for £250,000 in relation to alleged discrimination and harassment brought by a litigant in person with mental health issues. The claim was that correspondence sent by our corporate client amounted to both discrimination and harassment. We robustly defended the claim on behalf of our client and successfully opposed an application for permission to bring the discrimination part of the claim out of the primary limitation period. Subsequently, we successfully prosecuted an application to strike out the claim or to have summary judgment in relation to the harassment part of the claim. The claimant has appealed the refusal to grant her an extension to bring her discrimination claim, which is ongoing. The matter was complicated by the need to deal with the claimant’s ongoing mental health issues and threats of suicide.
• The defence of a claim of discrimination based upon an allegation of unconscious bias by the defendant in dealing with the claimant where the claimant claims “in excess of £15,000”. The claimant alleged that once the defendant became aware of his name, they understood that he came from a different racial background and discriminated against him. The matter is ongoing.
• The successful defence of a claim for damages for alleged victimisation of the claimant by our service provider client under the Equality Act 2010. The claimant alleged that our client had seen articles that denigrated him and referred to him as autistic. As a result of a perception that he was autistic, he was victimised in that he was treated in a lesser manner. We also succeeded in having a third party joined as a claimant for the purposes of paying the costs of the action.