Texting woman falls in fountain, files lawsuit

[RedTomato]

Except they didn't. What got uploaded to YouTube was a cell phone video of a monitor screen.

CCTV security footage in that mall is still private footage, and access to it was strictly controlled. Can you just walk into any CCTV security booth and casually start filming the screens with your phone?

Yes some CCTV is publicly displayed on public monitors, but we are talking here about some guards sitting in a closed room, where access is controlled, and someone in that room filming that footage and making it public, which is against the rules of their employment, and against the rules of that mall.

You may quibble over the difference, but in terms of copyright law, it's illegal to make a copy of a CD, but perfectly legal to record the song off the radio.

Your example may or not be correct, but it's a different situation. This is more like filming the security footage of a performer in a concert and putting that on youtube without the performer's permission. But that's quite a clear example. Stupid fountain lady here is one of these borderline cases.

There's no way to identify this woman from the tape.

Valid point, which is part of what makes this case interesting. She could argue that these people who know her might recognise her from her clothes, walk etc.

The central part of the case is the breach of employment rules by the mall staff in the CCTV room. BBC has an article here making much the same points about fountain lady.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/2011/01/pratfalls_on_cctv_public_prope.html

 

[RedTomato]

Whoops, double post. Couple of interesting points from the responses to the BBC blog linked to above:

Bloke 1:

A very similar thing happened to me as a teenager. I was entering a college sports hall gym and tripped over the carpet in the entrance, landing flat on my face. Embarrassing enough but I got up and got on with things. When I left the building 30 minutes later I spotted the gym staff playing the incident back on a monitor and having a good laugh.

This incident firmed my stance against CCTV. It is one of the many reasons (a minor one admittedly) that I am a strong opponent of CCTV and indeed would actually ban most CCTV. If you want security employ security guards. If you want to feel safe on the streets, employ more police officers. I can then watch who is watching me.

Bloke 2:

Not sure of the legalities of this but we have CCTV where I work, it is continuous 24/7.
I will not release footage to anyone except the police and only then if it is in relation to a suspected crime.

Occasionally we get a request from a customer as to whether an incident (usually a minor bump between cars on the carpark) has been captured, all I will say is that the cameras cover the whole area and that they were working at the time of the alleged incident. I will not let them watch it.

I have had insurance companies ring me up and request footage, I tell them that they will need a court order and they will need to pay for the footage to be pixellated before we would consider release, so far no court order has been forthcoming. (I will not tell them if an incident has been captured or not)

If one of my co-workers captured footage on their mobile then I would ensure that that person was dismissed for gross misconduct (Ts & Cs clearly state no mobiles during work) and we would take all steps to recover the footage and any damages we suffered as a result.

Customers have to know that we take (at least at my site) our responsibilities seriously and that we know that our customers interests are paramount (without customers we have no jobs).

I imagine that particular mall has already suffered a drop in footfall and if I rented a unit there I would be considering sueing as well.

 

[Tomorrow]

CCTV security footage in that mall is still private footage, and access to it was strictly controlled. Can you just walk into any CCTV security booth and casually start filming the screens with your phone?

Yes some CCTV is publicly displayed on public monitors, but we are talking here about some guards sitting in a closed room, where access is controlled, and someone in that room filming that footage and making it public, which is against the rules of their employment, and against the rules of that mall.

You've given some very good reasons why these security personnel might be disciplined by their employer. However, you've failed to convince me (as though I were a juror) that there was harm, damages, and reason to give this woman a monetary award.

 

[Tailpike1153]

So I everytime I do something stupid, I can sue somebody?

 

[haggisman]

yes gods!

The whole event only took about 10 seconds, and she was on her feet in about 3. She didn't need any help. I say let her go to court...on the condition that if she loses, she pays all court costs, the mall's legal fees, and the rest of her personal assets get liquidated and donated to a worthy charity. Oh well, at least she didn't fall into an open manhole...

Kinda reminds me of the old joke about the statistician who drowned in a river with an average depth of 6"

Scotty

 

[PopCulture]

That was so funny! She better be glad the mall wasn't too crowded.

 

[iJohnHenry]

So I everytime I do something stupid, I can sue somebody?

I guess if you are embarrassed all to Hell you can try.

 

[YS2003]

So I everytime I do something stupid, I can sue somebody?

Of course, that's the fast-track-get-rich American dream. Someone is getting rich at least from something which is not creating any value.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Someone is getting rich at least from something which is not creating any value.

Is that not part of a lawyer's sheep-skin, when they graduate??

 

[toolbox]

*who ponders the merits of castrating dumb people*

100 percent agreed. No ones fault but hers, should have been concentrating on watching where she was walking and not on the phone.

 

[NickZac]

Her falling in the fountain is still funny. that video always makes me laugh.

 

[neko girl]

Ohaithar Omg fountain

 

[Fubar1977]

Sadly it seems it`s Ok to sue people for your own stupidity.
Lawyers making a killing tho. (as usual)

 

[Don't panic]

Valid point, which is part of what makes this case interesting. She could argue that these people who know her might recognise her from her clothes, walk etc.

She learned that her fall went viral from her nephew, who called to tell her it was on YouTube.

transcript of how that happened:

teen1: "Hey Matt, check this out. Zach sent me this link. it's hilarious. There is this moron lady who is texting and falls in the fountain at the mall!"
teen2 (ROFLing): "Harharhar! that's histerical. I only know one person stupid enough to do something like that: Aunt Cathy.... wait a second......"

 

[Thomas Veil]

Comment withdrawn, before I end up getting this moved over to another forum.