LEGAL EAGLE: Carbon emissions at centre of ‘David and Goliath’ row

​Julia Donaldson to Taylor Swift. For those readers who are parents / grandparents and carers like me, the Julia Donaldson book ‘The Detective Dog Nell’ might feature in your young children’s bedtime reading – it’s a book I’d recommend. Sniff, sniff, sniff! Nose to the ground, these are the things the Detective Dog found.
By Richard Hardy
Published 19th Mar 2024, 08:00 GMT
The Detective Dog, by Julia Donaldson.The Detective Dog, by Julia Donaldson.
The Detective Dog, by Julia Donaldson.

Recently when reading the book for the umpteenth time I thought about my pleasure in ‘sniffing’ out legal stories. So, (you’ll see where I’m going with this) here is the story which caught my eye / nose this week. It’s not the biggest story, nor the most important legal story in the news but, if you’ll allow me to indulge myself, it’s the one which piqued my interest and may have been overlooked by you until now:

Taylor Swift – famous US musician / singer, winner of four Grammy Awards for album of the year, and Time magazine’s 2023 ‘Person of the Year’, but perhaps not covering herself in glory with her legal threats to Jack Sweeney, an American college student who seeks to highlight private jet emissions from celebrities’ flights.

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Her lawyers recently sent a cease-and-desist letter warning Jack Sweeney to stop his reports on Swift’s private jet. It is reported in 2022 Jack Sweeney’s online accounts were cited in an estimation that Swift was the biggest celebrity carbon dioxide polluter of the year.

The student publishes online accounts logging take-offs and landings by planes of hundreds of billionaires, politicians and other public figures, along with estimates of their climate changing emissions. As a result, he faces accusations from Swift of ‘stalking and harassing behaviour’ and causing Swift ‘direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress’ from the tracking activities. Swift’s legal team have referred to it being a ‘life or death’ issue.

It is unclear how the publicising of publicly available data including broadcast signals from aircraft is a ‘life or death’ issue. It is understood one of Swift’s main concerns is stalkers. People have pointed out however the aircraft’s location is not a complete picture of where Swift could be at any particular time – no more than a publicised concert schedule. In any case the aircraft is reported to be loaned out at times to others.

I guess it is the ‘David and Goliath’ nature of the dispute which drew my attention and, in some respects, reflects many cases our Firm acts in on behalf of individuals against well-resourced persons / organisations.

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Is Taylor Swift genuinely pursuing this student as a result of safety issues, or is she/her team really concerned about her private jet travel and carbon emissions being highlighted? Will Jack Sweeney find himself in Court facing a damages claim for his actions? Can he fund legal representation?

I’ll be sure to keep my nose to the ground!

By Richard Hardy, Partner at Ben Hoare Bell LLP

Related topics:Taylor SwiftRichard Hardy