Residents who live opposite the
Tate Modern,
an art museum in London on the south bank of the Thames, sued the Tate for private nuisance and will have their appeal heard by the
U.K. Supreme Court. Residents of the swank
NEO Bankside
apartment building grew discontent two years ago when a new 360-degree
viewing platform at the Tate afforded hundreds of thousands of visitors
annually a generous vantage point on private quarters as close as 34
meters away. Some Tate tourists took pictures and shared to social
media insights into the private lives of London apartment dwellers. The
problem in legal terms is whether "overlooking" is a private nuisance,
and the general rule, at least in an urban environment, is that it is
not. Accordingly, the residents lost
in the High Court in 2019 and
in the Court of Appeal in 2020. Not to be deterred, the resident-plaintiffs will press on in the Supreme Court this year. The case is
Fearn v. Tate, [2020] EWCA Civ 104, and
Fearn v. Board of Trustees, [2019] EWHC 246 (Ch). Hat tip
to Art Law & More from Boodle Hatfield.
