Model Lara Bingle is suing footballer Brendan Fevola over his alleged distribution of a revealing photograph. The snap (right) shows Bingle in the shower, clearly unhappy about having her picture taken.
It’s been confirmed the pair shared a brief relationship three years ago when Bingle was 19 and while Fevola was already married.
According to Wikipedia, Bingle was born on June 5, 1987 in the delightfully named Yowie Bay and is “best known for appearing on Fingal Spit in the controversial 2006 Tourism Australia advertising campaign So where the bloody hell are you?”
Bingle is no stranger to legal action.
In May 2006, she sued EMAP Australia, who allegedly published photographs of the model without her permission in Zoo Weekly.
Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke
I can understand her being unhappy with Fevola, but I don’t support the grounds of her argument.
Her manager Max Markson says Bingle is taking legal action for breach of privacy, defamation and misuse of her image.
I heard a media lawyer remind everyone tonight there is no right to privacy under Australian law. It will be hard to argue the photo was defamatory and as for “misuse”, I’m not aware of any law against that.
If the argument hinges on damage to reputation, I think Bingle will struggle to win.
It was widely reported she had a “meltdown” after the 20/20 cricket match in Sydney last week.
Witnesses at the Members Stand in the Sydney Cricket Ground claim the glamor couple got into a verbal altercation after the 22-year-old, nicknamed ‘Posh Bingle’, told Clarke she found the sport ‘boring’. It’s understood Bingle’s emotions were running so high that fiance Clarke was forced to make himself into a ‘human wall’ to shield her dummy spit from enthralled spectators.
The media lawyer thought the matter should be settled out of court.
Fevola may have been a cad, but consider that Bingle had an affair with a high-profile man for five weeks and supposedly didn’t know her partner was married.
Invading someone’s privacy by taking and distributing a compromising photo of them is wrong, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.
Wrong yes, but illegal? I don’t think so.
Ms Gillard was also right to say that anyone who behaves this way should apologise and make good the damage they had done.
Good idea, but settle the matter out of court.
- Cartoon by Broelman
- Other post: Clarke abandons teammates and fans.
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There’s no right to privacy in Australia? Wow. That’s a bit of a concern that anybody can peep or photograph you in any compromising position and you have no laws of protection against it.
Are their any sort of surveillance laws there?
Here in the US, she’d win easily, because photography laws here clearly state that you cannot infringe upon a person’s right to privacy in such a manner. Maybe she’s confused as to which country she is in.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
I just remembered overnight that we reported a similar case in the paper recently.
It involved a 16-year-old-boy who was charged with distributing child pornography after he allegedly took a photo of a 14-year-old girl in the shower at a caravan park and then copied it to his friends.
That was obviously the only charge the police thought would stick.
Fevola is facing no criminal charges, presumably because he was in a consensual relationship with Bingle at the time.
Laws against peeping would be covered by trespass or break and enter. Taking pictures of people in compromising positions is not illegal, unless the pictures are pornographic or defamatory, as far as I know.
As a journalist I’m not concerned by this. I’m more concerned that a perceived right to privacy is increasingly used as an excuse to encroach on traditional press freedoms.
I just bet her “popularity” at the moment will not do any long-term harm, she will probably be so cashed up with all of this public attention, her career will take off in a big way.
Maybe Hugh Hefner has a spot for her as one of his bunnies. The Playboy mansion is set to rock with Lara posing (even in the shower).
When you live your tacky life in the public arena, don’t chuck a hissy fit or sob story over a bad photo taken by your live in boyfriend. History can never be rewritten, but you soon learn not to repeat it.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
There is a great post here on the legal aspects of the Bingle bungle.