Pineapple junk â€" judge\'s verdict on officer\'s £1.5m claim

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But yesterday a judge cast doubt on the true extent of her mentaltrauma after hearing evidence that she had managed to go on astring of holidays abroad, attend a gym and find a new boyfriendafter splitting up with her married lover. Ms Ormsby was also accused by the lover, a detective, of trying toblackmail him into giving perjured evidence for her. She hadthreatened to send photographs to his wife, he said. The court also heard that after she had convinced a doctor todiagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, she had exclaimed:"Ker-ching!" It was a word used to mean "I am in the money". Lord Malcolm ruled that she was entitled to a modest award for herminor physical injuries in the riot, but he rejected her claim forpsychological harm. At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, he said: "I consider that atbest for her there is a very considerable degree of exaggeration inher account of her disabilities." The judge said Ms Ormsby had been robust, combative and feistyunder cross-examination in the witness box, and added: "I cannotreconcile the person I saw with the fearful and fragile persondescribed in some of the medical reports. The holidays and otheractivities directly contradict the suggestion of a withdrawn,isolated individual." Ms Ormsby, of Paisley, had served around eight years withStrathclyde Police when ordered to attend the baths on 7 August,2001. Their closure had been opposed by many people, and the policelined up to keep protesters away while workmen boarded up thebuilding. Violence flared over several hours. A no-arrest policy was adopted, to try to minimise damage tocommunity relations. Missiles thrown at police included bricks,potatoes and traffic cones. They were also sprayed with urine. MsOrmsby said: "We were told to stand there and smile at them⬦ donot speak to them, smile at them⬦because (media] cameras werethere." Ms Ormsby had been struck by a pineapple on the chest, and was offwork for a few weeks. She retired on grounds of ill-health in 2004,and blamed psychological trauma associated with the baths riot forlosing a promising career. She sued Strathclyde's chief constablefor £1.5 million. The judge said the senior officer in charge had owed a duty of careto the officers, and breached it by the way the officers continuedto be deployed in a cordon "once the risk of serious injury becameapparent". But the judge concluded: "I am left in very considerable doubt asto the true extent of any disabilities from which she may besuffering. Whatever the true extent of any psychological problems,I am unable to hold it proved they were caused by the negligence ofthe officer in charge at Govanhill. "Rather, it is more likely they can be accounted for by herpre-existing psychological vulnerability allied to other eventssuch as problems at work and other stressful events in her life." 'We must not become a society bent on litigation' LORD Malcolm has been a judge for only 18 months, but already hehas encountered two cases which could be described as products ofthe compensation culture. Fuelled by enormous payouts which seem commonplace in the UnitedStates for all manner of weird and wonderful situations, and byoffers at every turn from no-win, no-fee lawyers, people on thisside of the Atlantic are much more inclined to cry, "Who can Isue?" whenever misfortune befalls them. The rationale is that you are not taking money from the personbecause an insurance company pays. A generation ago, who would have imagined that someone knocked overby a dog running in a field would go to the highest civil court inScotland, the Court of Session in Edinburgh, and ask for damages? To the relief of dog owners throughout the country, Lord Malcolmruled earlier this year that Ebony the Labrador's keeper could notbe branded negligent for what had been "a pure accident", even ifhe had not kept his pet on a lead. Matters might be different in other circumstances and you couldnever say never, the judge declared, but the courts must not helpcreate "a society bent on litigation".