Something very strange is going on with Chris Packham and his various legal cases.
Despite reportedly being worth at least $4million BBC celebrity, Chris Packham, seems to be having his current legal bills to law firm Leigh Day paid for by the general public through crowd funding after his colleague, Ruth Tingay, set up a funding site.
The money is apparently being used, according to the crowd funding site, to support Packham's defamation case against FieldSports TV.
The crowd funding site is aiming to raise £20,000 to 'cover the costs of pre-action correspondence, court applications and the time provided by specialist defamation barristers for preparing detailed advice in the Fieldsports claim.'
Leigh Day have in the past been known to undertake some cases on a 'no win, no fee' basis. The firm cite on their website: 'We act for most of our clients under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) – also known as a ‘no win no fee agreement’. If your case is unsuccessful then you don’t have to pay us (except in very specific circumstances that your solicitor will discuss with you). If your case is successful, then the majority of your legal costs will be paid by your opponent.'
It is not known whether Chris Packham's previous legal activities with Leigh Day had been carried out under that 'no-win, no-fee' arrangement, but the latest crowd funder would suggest that Packham is in need of funds to bring the current case against FieldSports TV.
Indeed, Tingay confirms in the crowd funder that she has 'chosen the Crowd Justice platform because donations here go directly to Chris’s legal team rather than to me or to Chris.'
You would have thought that a TV celebrity, reportedly worth $4million, would not be requiring £10 and £20 donations from the general public.
Packham recently announced he was stepping back from TV for three months and the forthcoming Autumnwatch series has been cancelled.
Speaking to the Mirror, Packham insisted he is not having a midlife crisis but wants to get "off the treadmill" and feels a bit "burnt out" after decades of being on screen. "I'm not going to buy a Ferrari and run off with a 20-year-old," he laughed.
"I've never taken three months off work. Never. I can barely sleep I am so excited. I might have to ban [partner] Charlotte from the studio," he said.
How much of that time off will be taken up in court is unknown. We will be watching developments closely.