Gardening: Lizzy Pitt will be represented by Naomi Cunningham against Cambridgeshire County Council in July

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Lizzy Pitt needs help with gardening in the usual place if anyone has plants to spare. She is a social worker accused of hate speech for expressing gender critical views, and is being represented by Naomi Cunningham.

And yes huge congrats Lizzy - I really hope you feel a weight has lifted and can treat yourself/look after yourself as needed. It's because you were willing to fight that they have capitulated. Every one of these cases helps to raise awareness and assists with the dawning of reality on these organisations and society in general. for you.

Hopefully the damages will be substantial. I dont know if local authorities insure or accept the risk themselves but the insurers of those who do insure against legal costs should be all over this.

I'm very pleased for Lizzie but a reminder that there are other cases outstanding and for those who like to watch batshittery a couple of OU ones. Not sure if I'm allowed to link there o my own thread. but I'll bump it.

Congratulations Lizzy! 🎉

Brilliant news Lizzie x

That's such good news. Brick by brick this bloody wall of untruths and bullying is being dismantled.
Well done Lizzy for being so courageous and bringing the case.

Great news.

I hope more and more LA's are starting to take note.

Great news. Congrats @LizzyPitt

Well done @LizzyPitt !!! Thank you for fighting for all of us. Very happy this gruelling ordeal for you is at an end. I do think there are questions to be asked about who should fund south Cambridge councils part in this. They absolutely knew they had no case and deliberately created a huge amount of personal pain for an individual here...

Agree, I wonder if it is possible to sue on this basis? They deliberately continued to harass Lizzy through the court process up to the very last minute. Not an appropriate use of taxpayers money. I wouldn't be very happy about their wastage of my money (especially given I have the same beliefs as Lizzy) if they were my council.

It's also the case that social workers so untethered from reality as not to understand the importance and reality of biological sex can't actually safeguard appropriately, so if social workers who can recognise reality and apply sex-based safeguarding are being discriminated against routinely (who knows how many more there are) then that actually means vulnerable people aren't being served properly by this public service.

Not seen the summary Tribunal Tweets thread of this morning's costs hearing, but their coverage starts here:
https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/1818568505345683612
Not an expert, but it does seem that NC (Naomi Cunningham?) has covered all the points the judge was going to ask about, so it looks positive that she might get at least some of her costs covered.

They are back now for the afternoon session here: x.com/tribunaltweets/status/1818626137142272032?s=46&t=NLk_yOAeRgggw5iLWmNizA

The barrister for Cambridgeshire County Council is arguing now re costs. The question of Crowdfunding was raised this morning.

(R is CCC; J is Judge; C is Lizzy Pitt, the claimant)

LB - Barrister for CCC:
R does not have deep pockets. I take out the situation on crowd funding, it is important that you take that factor in account that C is not out of pocket herself. The crowd funding figure is over £50k. Take it into consideration - she is not out of pocket.

J - it depends on how you look at it. Can we ignore the indemnity aspects.

LB - I take the point but costs are compensatory not punitive. If you fail to take into consideration that they have been covered, they may even be viewed as a windfall.

So...not only do we have to fund these cases out of our taxed income, to support women who are being discriminated against and losing their jobs, but that is also being used against them and us. 'A windfall' FFS.

Thay is outrageous. Without the crowd funding, the case might not have happened and they would have got away with it. And yet they argue that donated money is all she should get. I hope the judge calls that out.

Judge has risen. "We will reserve our decision and let you know in due course.
LB - when could we expect a decision
J - no I can't say.
Court rises.

Unused donated money is reallocated to justice for others, a point I hope Lizzie's lawyers are making.

Just want to say Tribunal Tweets are amazing. Also their thread of this afternoon has had more than 4.4k views.

This afternoon's thread unrolled
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1818626137142272032.html

They (NC) made the argument it was like insurance and no business of Cambridgeshire council

If they were so keen to save Cambs taxpayers money then there was an obvious way to do so... ffs

Yes not be discriminatory lesbophobic, misogynistic pricks. Jesus. There really does need to be greater punishment via the courts - these public servants have literally no remorse for discriminating. I pity the poor children under social services in such a corrupted system.

It was very cheeky of CCC's lawyer to call it a "windfall"! My understanding of how the crowdfunder works is that money only goes to pay legal expenses and if the guilty side pays then the claimant doesn't keep the extra money, instead it gets passed on to fund another similar case.

It would have a chilling effect on donations to these legal crowdfunders if donations were (in effect) used to subsidise the guilty party.

The latest email update from Lizzie includes some gems. One of those complaining about Lizzie apparently dressed their "obviously male" dog in dresses and says the dog is gender fluid. Would have been interesting if they needed their support animal in court.

The latest email update from Lizzie includes some gems. One of those complaining about Lizzie apparently dressed their "obviously male" dog in dresses and says the dog is gender fluid.

I was agog at that revelation in the email update.

I’m tempted to start including a statement that my donation is not to be used to pay costs for the opposing side if they lose but is to be transferred to another crowd funder instead.

I would be fully in favour of my contribution being a windfall for Lizzy when CCC forced to pay costs.

TT really are underrated heroines. Their ability to live tweet is unsurpassed.