Warners Bros to compensate Valencian man €25k for using a photo of him

WARNERS Bros Pictures and Warner Bros Entertainment Spain are to compensate a Valencian man with €25k for using a photo of him in the film ‘The Accountant’ which associated him with being a mobster.

The victim won his court battle against the film giants after a Valencia Court sided with the man, who issued the claim after realising that his photograph had been used by the producer of the film ‘The Accountant’, starring Ben Afleck and Anna Kendrick, and directed by Gavin O’Connor, to portray a mafia member.
His image, which he considered had been violated by his appearance in the film, appeared at the top of a group of photographs of the notorious Gambino mafia family, claiming his reputation and professional image had been affected by this, and that he had never consented to the use of his image for the film.
He alluded to moral damages and demanded compensation of €250,000 based on the income obtained by Warner from the film plus the corresponding legal fees, however, the film companies opposed this claim, arguing that the image of the man was provided by the FBI as part of a search warrant issued in 2004.
In the end, the judge said the appearance of the man was used without any type of consent, neither express nor tacit, and that even though he was only featured for one second in a frame as part of a panel of black and white photographs, the fact that he was listed under the label ‘suspected Gambino family associates’, he was entitled to compensation.

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