Low cost justice

They don’t really need the money but it’s the principle that counts. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his new missus, Carla, have won damages in a case they brought against the budget airline Ryanair.

The normally publicity-shy couple sued the airline for using a photograph of them without their consent in an advertisement that recently appeared in the French daily newspaper Le Parisien.

It showed the pair looking towards the sky with the former model-turned singer-turned First Lady saying, “With Ryanair the whole of my family can attend my wedding.”

The ad’ only appeared once shortly before the couple married, but that was apparently reason enough for them to sue.

Carla sought the sum of a meagre €500,000, claiming it was the fee she would normally pocket for appearing in such an advertisement – so at least we know her true value.

But a Paris judge decided that was a slight exaggeration and instead ordered Ryanair to pay Mrs Sarkozy €60,000 for “patrimonial and moral” damages and the “infringement of a personal image.”

Generous soul that she is, Mrs S has donated her winnings to a national charity.

Meanwhile her husband was awarded the symbolic amount of €1 – no reflection on his true value perhaps. But as he already earns a packet after awarding himself a hefty 172 per cent pay increase last November for an annual salary of more than €240,000, it’s unlikely he’ll be seeking anything more.

Maybe he’ll squirrel it away in a high interest earning account for a rainy day. After all he has spent much of the past nine months as president telling the French that they’ll have to tighten their belts.

A strange case really though for a couple who, since they met, have stage-managed every possible photo opportunity to ensure maximum public exposure on their own terms. And the impending marriage was possibly one of the world’s worst kept secrets, with rumours and speculation splashed across front pages since the relationship first became public last November.

Ryanair was also ordered to publish the court’s verdict in “Le Parisien”, and the airline has promised not to run the advertisement again.

Shame really as they’ve already paid for it.