Basejumper.com - archive

I have recently spoken to a lawyer about a situation I have with my company.

Going into month 3 off work due to my injury, I spoke to my company and told them about the possibilty of a bone graft operation in 2 months, my company is now speaking to their legal department about my situation.

Having spoken to my own solicitor, it seems that due to the "illegal" side of our sport I may not have much standing against them. The only way I am able to argue against them either changing my contract without changing everyones, or being able to put in a clause that means they can sack me if I should get injured again is that they were well aware of my activity for the past 2 years.

The issue of BASE being seen as "illegal" means that they have more rights in changing my contract.

The solicitor I am speaking to, is unaware of BASE as a sport, but his general thoughts are that tresspass is both a civil and criminal offence...........

My company has no rights in restricting what I do outside of work if it does not effect my working hours, but if me taking part in an "illegal" activity effects my work then I dont really have "a leg to stand on" ???

I really need to find more information on the supposed legal stand point of BASE - if anyone has any information that may help me, or any contact of a BASE knowing lawyer then drop me a line...............

some people hey!

ok............ now having spoken to the police about BASE jumping they say "its a civil issue and not our problem"

so where do we stand?

i finished law school.. but laws are different from country 2 country
in my country we have a system that pay all the Hospital costs (including surgery) but not pay extra services (like tomography... or others... except if this is an ER need)
it doesent matter if u have an accident in an "illegal" activity... and ur accident was on landing (i guess)
landing isn`t illegal.... jumping (tresspasing is)

The cost of the health care is not the issue here. As I understand it, the problem is that Mac could get sacked from his job with no compensation because his work reckon he was injured doing something illegal. However according to the police it (trespassing) is a civil offence.

I reckon if the solicitor kicks up a big enough fuss at the least the company will make some sort of redundancy settlement. I'll ask mr2mk1g, he is a barrister and should be able to give some better input.

Will

rule #1 dont you ever tell your work what you were doing while you were injuryed.. he he.. say its football or somthing(unless your realy fucked up,realice you only broke your leg..he he says the guy that knows the pain)

sorry mate i couldnt resist...my work still is sure about that my open fractura were duing a walk on a feild...

As the police have told you, trespass is a civil issue only and unless you are trespassing on railway there is no criminal offence (railways - including railway bridges -are the only place in the UK where trespass becomes a criminal matter so bear that in mind if you ever find a cool viaduct ).

I think most BASE jumpers are aware they usually commit a civil wrong when the enter people's property without permission or for a reason such as BASE jumping. However, I do not see how a civil wrong can properly described as "illegal". I have a strong feeling that the term “illegal” must refer to something criminal as opposed to something that is a civil wrong.

To be 100% sure about that though, I would have to have a look into the case law surrounding the issue. I’ll check the point out tomorrow for you but I would be surprised.

Aside from any civil wrongs that may be committed by the average BASE jumper, I don't see there being a general law against it. There are a few catch all public order offences which, if the authorities were really bothered, could be thrown at you and could possibly stick... you know, things like offences based on the possibility of you endangering others and the like if there was a risk you could land on them or perhaps of causing a some form of public disturbance. But these were never created with BASE jumping in mind. Other than that it's simply the civil wrongs of trespass and possibly public/private nuisance and as I said, neither of these are criminal offences.

If your solicitor is right in that your company may have more room where they are trying to deal with an illegal activity the question really will come down to whether or not BASE is “illegal” or not. I must point out though that I have very little experience with employment law so don’t really want to be drawn into commenting on whether or not your solicitor is right about your employers powers to change your contract re your “illegal” activities. If I may tentatively advise you though, that if a solicitor told me they considered trespass to be a criminal offence, I would have very little confidence in them or their advice. It really is an incredibly basic mistake that no one legally trained should be excused for making.

As I said, I'll take a look into it tomorrow. Right now I've got to go down the pub.